Lydia Loveless

After first making a name as a firebrand alt-country artist, Lydia Loveless has matured into an indie singer/songwriter whose music makes room for contemporary pop influences and roots music without betraying their fearless, personal lyrical stance. Loveless’ vocals combine the honky tonk style of classic country stars like Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline with the no-quarter attitude of punk rock icons such as Exene Cervenka and Carla Bozulich, and their idiosyncratic covers of songs by Kesha and Justin Beiber demonstrated how much passion and individuality they bring to their performances. While their music never fully lost the twang displayed on 2011’s Indestructible Machine and the 2017 collection Boy Crazy and Single(s), their adventurous pop sensibility is well represented on 2020’s Daughter and 2023’s Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again. In 2024, they celebrated the tenth anniversary of their album Somewhere Else with Something Else, where they reinterpreted the songs in solo acoustic form.

Loveless was born in Coshocton, Ohio in 1990; they were raised on a farm, but their father was also a music fan who booked bands at a local bar, and Lydia became accustomed early on to seeing bands play and discovering an out-of-town act asleep on the living-room floor in the morning. By the time Loveless was 13, they had taken up songwriting and were doing shows with local bands, playing a combination of rootsy country and punk-influenced rock & roll. After relocating to Columbus, Ohio, Loveless fronted a pop/rock band with their sisters called Carson Drew, but the combo broke up not long after the release of their 2006 album, Under the Table, and Loveless began concentrating on their solo career, forming a backing band with her dad on drums. In 2010, they self-released their first solo album, The Only Man, which earned rave reviews from the alt-country music media, and as they began work on a follow-up EP, they were approached by insurgent country label Bloodshot Records, which promptly signed Loveless to a record deal.

At the label’s behest, Loveless expanded the EP to an album, and their first Bloodshot effort, Indestructible Machine, was released in September 2011. After the album arrived in stores, Loveless and their band hit the road hard, touring extensively in the United States, Canada, and Europe. In 2013, they began working on material for a third album, but shortly after the sessions for the full-length were completed, they had a burst of inspiration that led to Loveless writing and recording a hard-rocking five-song EP about the ups and downs of relationships. Titled Boy Crazy, the EP was released as a stopgap in late 2013, while an album, the confident and eclectic Somewhere Else, appeared in February 2014. Filmmaker Gorman Bechard made a documentary about their life and music, Who Is Lydia Loveless?, which debuted on the film festival circuit in the fall of 2016. In August of 2016, Loveless released their much-anticipated fourth album, Real. In October 2017, Bloodshot reissued the Boy Crazy EP with the addition of tracks from three non-LP singles under the title Boy Crazy and Single(s).

Loveless would leave Bloodshot after the release of Boy Crazy and Single(s), alleging they had been sexually harassed by the spouse of one of the label’s founders. The split with their label was the first act in a period of change. After years of heavy touring and divorcing their husband (who had been playing bass in their road band), Loveless left Ohio and moved to North Carolina, where they settled into a new home, cutting back on their time on the road and concentrating on songwriting. Lydia worked up songs on keyboard rather than guitar for the first time and learned to use rhythm machines and recording software to work out arrangements on their own. Loveless took the songs to The Loft, the Chicago studio founded and operated by the band Wilco, with engineer Tom Schick and Loveless co-producing the sessions. The material formed their fifth album, 2020’s Daughter, which was released on their own label, Honey, You’re Gonna Be Late Records. The album appeared as America was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented Loveless from touring in the immediate wake of its release, and they chose to return to Columbus, Ohio, where Lydia took a job working at Secret Studio, a recording facility and art space. After returning to the road in 2022 with extensive touring (including a string of dates opening for the Drive-By Truckers), Loveless was writing new songs again, and after Bloodshot Records was sold to new owners, they returned to their roster. 2023’s Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again was her first album under her new deal with the label. Co-produced with recording engineer Sean Sullivan, the studio band included Jay Gonzalez of the Drive-By Truckers on keyboards. To honor the tenth anniversary of Somewhere Else, in August 2024 Loveless issued Something Else, in which they revisited the album’s ten songs with new arrangements, stripping them down to Loveless’ impassioned vocals and spare acoustic piano. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi