Elizabeth Butler is #Flyah
Elizabeth
Butler was that kid...the one locked away in her Savannah, Georgia
bedroom as a teenager poring over the liner notes from Cat Stevens,
Carole King, and Dan Fogelberg. She took in melody and song
construction and lyrics while listening with the volume up way too
loud. It is a fitting portrait of an artist that embraces every
aspect of a music career with gusto, from writing, playing,
recording, collaborating, and navigating the business. This holistic
approach to her career shines brightly on Love
and Loss and Stuff Like That,
her first solo release.
Butler grew
up steeped in a diversity of musical styles, from the Eddy Arnold
records her dad loved to Tchaikovsky and Bernstein. She started
playing guitar at age eleven, and began playing in church at age
thirteen, eventually landing a job as a church musician in her teens.
She began making homemade demos and sending them to A&R
executives while still in high school. Keeping up with music while
earning her nursing degree, she made her first professional demo when
she was twenty-one. In 1999, she founded Running Home Records, her
own label in Houston, Texas. She was also performing with Running
Home, an American-country-jazz duo with Suzanne Comeaux Bucher that
quickly garnered airplay and a fan base across the country. While she
was raising her family, Butler also began to pursue film and
television licensing opportunities as an alternative to the
traditional musician's path of touring. Her compositions have been
placed in the music library of The Discovery Channel, among others.
Butler is
releasing her first solo album, Love
and Loss and Stuff Like That, in
early 2014. She describes the album as a scrapbook concept, as if the
listener is taking pieces of an artist's journal and absorbing a life
story in frames and vignettes. Part of the draw of the recording
process for Butler hearkens back to those days in her bedroom as a
teenager, enveloped in liner notes and absorbing songs through
endless listens on the stereo. Butler calls her style a "smooth
gumbo of sound", and the listener can easily pick out country,
pop, jazz, and blues influences amidst an undeniably unique sound
that is steeped in years of practice and stacks of vinyl. She
co-produced Love and Loss and Stuff Like That with Troy Warren, Jr.,
a multi-instrumentalist who back-and-forths with Butler on everything
from instrumentation to arrangement. To Butler, recording is the
chance to let her compositions reflects life as a whole. "It's
the juxtaposition of the big romantic swells with those small,
intimate moments, and there is a craft to recording that."
Ultimately, Love and Loss and
Stuff Like That is Elizabeth
Butler's message to the world that no one is alone in their journey,
and whether it be finding love, navigating through a loss, or simply
driving down the highway with the radio turned up, Butler is a
willing and discerning companion. -Jana Pochop for Social
Thinkery.com
Suburban Mom Indie Musicians Plot To
Walk the Red Carpet at GRAMMY® and HMMA Music Awards
October 20, 2014
Do you have to be 19 and able to twerk
in a bikini to receive recognition as a female musician these days?
Solveig Whittle and Elizabeth Butler
are proof that you don’t. These two indie female
songwriter-musicians from Seattle, Washington and Houston, Texas,
were notified recently that they both have songs and albums up For
Consideration in the 57th Grammys and nominated for the
2014 Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMAs). The Grammys will be
awarded in February of next year, but the HMMAs will be awarded
sooner, on November 4th, 2014 at the Fonda Theater in Los
Angeles.
The two women have been strategizing
for months and working together to promote their new music in an
industry in which it is notoriously hard to stand out – and one
that also tends to favor younger artists. They remain undaunted,
however, and now their musical and co-promotional partnership created
some very visible results such as their Grammy and HMMA nominations.
Like many indie musicians, Whittle and
Butler have been hobbyist musicians their whole lives. Only within
the last few years have they gotten serious about putting resources
and time into pushing their individual music careers forward. By
sharing information with each other and honing both their musical and
promotional skills, they have proved that collaboration is the new
route to success in the music business.
Both Whittle and Butler released new
albums this fall. Whittle’s is entitled Fire and Other
Playthings, and Butler’s is Love & Loss & Stuff Like
That. Both artists are on the first round 57thGrammy
ballots in Best American Roots Song and Best Americana Album
categories. The two albums share a theme of empowerment, something
both women have experienced as individuals in recent years and want
to pass on to others through their music.
“I submitted my song, A1A (Settin’
Myself Free) for the HMMAs in December of 2013, and was thrilled
when I heard it had been nominated for Best Americana Song, “ said
Butler. “It’s an anthem for anyone going through a change, and I
think it’s struck a chord with a lot of people. Fans really seem to
resonate with the subject matter. It’s a little bit Thelma and
Louise.”
“Elizabeth and I have been
collaborating for over two years now. I was a little hesitant, but
Elizabeth encouraged me to submit my work to both the Grammys and the
HMMAs,” said Whittle, “The HMMA nomination is my first music
award nomination ever, and I plan to make the most of the experience.
Would I like to win? Sure, but just being nominated and attending the
HMMAs with Elizabeth is going to be a great experience.”
Both Whittle and Butler are typical
indie musicians: they also have day jobs. Creating and promoting
their music is something that keeps them busy late into the night and
on weekends. Butler is a registered nurse at a Houston-area hospital,
and Whittle is a social media instructor at the University of
Washington.
The two women met two years ago through
Twitter and Soundcloud. Friendship and professional musical
collaboration quickly blossomed via email, text, social media, and
the cloud. Whittle was soon providing backup vocals for Butler, and
then Butler flew to Seattle to attend Whittle’s 2013 CD release
party for a prior album. Whittle subsequently traveled southeast in
January 2014 to participate in the filming of Butler’s music video
for A1A (Settin’ Myself Free). During that visit, the two
began co-writing the lyrics to Light The Fire, which they
finished through long-distance collaboration online over the summer.
Light The Fire was released on both of their CDs (on Butler’s
as a bonus track), and is one of the songs up for consideration for a
Grammy.
“When we met, we realized we shared
so many life experiences and values – even though we come from
different parts of the country and backgrounds. We have a pack of
children between us who are adults now. The bottom line is: we’ve
been daughters, we’ve been moms, we’ ve been wives. We’ve
launched a thousand ships, so to speak. Now it’s our turn. Our
musical and personal friendship has given us the support - and that
extra push - to pursue our own creative ambitions at this stage in
our lives,” said Whittle.
Like Butler’s song A1A (Settin’
Myself Free), Whittle says the lyrics to her song Light The
Fire speak to the lightning strike of revelation and
transformation that many people feel as they get older, and realize
that the clock is ticking but there are still creative things they
want to do in their lives. Coming from a background in high tech
marketing and business, it took Whittle many years to realize that
what she really loved most was writing and singing songs, as she had
in college. After that epiphany, she decided to get serious about her
music because it meant much more to her than a hobby.
“For every
person out there who dreams of releasing their CD, writing their
novel, creating that art piece, or making that indie film - just
remember that it gets easier after the kids are grown,” said
Butler. “Don’t give up on your dreams – we all have so much
life experience to share. You can absolutely do it!”
Watch Elizabeth Butler’s music video
A1A (Settin’ Myself Free) on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAFpXqUsFcE
Her latest album, Love, Loss and Stuff
Like That, is available on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and all major
music outlets. Website http://www.EButlerMusic.com
For booking, licensing, or press, contact Elizabeth Butler at
runninghomerecords@gmail.com
Watch Solveig & Stevie’s music
video Light The Fire on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M4OldmcXcY
Her latest album, Fire and Other
Playthings, is available on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and all major
music outlets. Website http://solveigandstevie.com
For booking, licensing, or press, contact Solveig Whittle at
206-619-0646 or solveig@solveigwhittle.com
