For several years now, San Diego's coffeehouse crowd has been basking in the warm glow of Lisa
Sanders' music. The singer-songwriter's sonorous voice flows straight from the heart, coloring and
shaping her melodies with such soulful grace that you can feel the emotions of her music
before the lyrics even register.
Sanders began her songwriting journey as a child in Philadelphia, inspired by Fleetwood Mac,
Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell. She took a detour into married life and motherhood, but
later rekindled her musical aspirations after moving to Los Angeles and joining a
songwriter's showcase. Sanders and a writing partner tried to pay the rent writing jingles,
but amid the inevitable letdowns of the business and an aborted writing project with the
Jacksons, Sanders put her songwriting on ice. She sent her kids to stay with her parents
for a time, and moved to the San Diego area, where took a job at a supermarket and
temporarily lived out of her car as she refocused her life.
San Diego exposed Sanders to a pulsing coffeehouse scene peopled by acoustic singer-songwriters
like Gregory Page, Steve Poltz, Jewel, Peggy Watson, Cindy Lee Berryhill and Elizabeth Hummel,
recharging her muse and drawing her toward the stage. Her 1996 CD debut,
Isn't Life Fine, earned positive reviews and featured the collaborative creative energies of
Poltz (who co-wrote a few tunes on Jewel's Pieces of You), three-time Grammy-winning
engineer Barry Rudolph, bassist/producer Josquin des Pres, and legendary songwriter Bernie Taupin.
Sanders' luminous follow-up, Life Takes You Flying, is a work of emotional depth and
maturity. Perhaps her jingle-writing days reinforced the power of an indelible melody,
as each song on the CD makes a radio-friendly appeal, rendered in Sanders' a rich, smooth
alto. In the country-tinged "Head Over Heels" and "Sight Unseen", Sanders exudes the
soulful ache of a swollen heart against a sweetly lilting pedal steel backdrop. "If we
can see the way with our hearts/then we can never be wrong" she declares in the latter tune,
invoking the power of the heart, a central theme of the album - the heart as intuitive
guiding light, repository of truth, embodiment of passion, soul, healing, and love. In
"This House" (co-written with Dana LeeWood), Sanders asserts the heart's recuperative
strength; The "Ooh la la la"s after the refrain feel like a cool, soothing salve for the
soul, and lift the song to buoyant heights. The radio-friendly "Queen of My Castle" emerges
triumphantly from heartbreak with a newfound self-awareness and confidence that didn't come
easy: "To know yourself is not a walk in the park/ To know your heart is not a stab in the
dark/ To wake up late in your life is not a bust/Do it at all cost".
Rather than crowding her sound with production layers, Sanders keeps her melodies clear and
rhythmically well-supported. Part of Sanders' emotive power is her lyrical simplicity, along
with a beautiful honesty and tasteful elegance. First-rate production and a talented musical
cadre blend flair and economy: Jimmy Crespo (Aerosmith, Rod Stewart) on lead guitar; John
Katchur on acoustic guitar; Jon Mattox (Young Dubliners) on drums; Kevin Ryan on pedal
steel, Dana LeeWood and Mary Dolan on background vocals; and Josquin des Pres on bass
and at the production helm. Snappy grooves, the right electric shadings, warm acoustic
tones, and sweet vocal harmonies add the right balance of ingredients to Sanders' evocative vocals.
Sanders has twice won the San Diego Music Award (1998, 1999) for Best Acoustic Artist,
and was nominated again in 2000. She performed at the Lilith Fairs in San Diego and
Phoenix, and has opened for B.B. King, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, the Violent Femmes, and Sting.
