On Friday, May 8th, award-winning folkster Liv Greene will release her debut full-length album, Every Bright Penny. Produced by Isa Burke of Americana trio Lula Wiles, the album encompasses the last four years of her life in Boston studying, waitressing, and working on her craft. “It is a lot of small parts that came together to make a whole – coming from me jotting down lines in my phone on the train, on napkins at work, in margins of notebooks at school,” she explains. “Growth happens slowly, piece by piece, and I think this record captures me on that journey.”
Greene’s honeyed vocals flow effortlessly over lush layers of bluegrass-style strings and gentle percussion (except for the rock-tinged “Brandy Hill” which is as close to headbanging to folk music I’ve gotten in a long while), each song like an entry in a box of cherished photographs, their edges slightly worn and creased from revisits and reminiscence. Her storytelling is wistful, at times sublimely sassy (“Honey, I don’t mind you cheatin’ long as you don’t mind me gone” she sings in the aptly-titled “Gone”) as she recounts life’s ups and downs.
From the first notes of effervescent album opener “New York’s Arms” to the last notes of contemplative closer “The Best Way Out,” Greene’s tone is one of hope and resilience, of one finding her way in the world, capturing each experience in her lyrical scrapbook and moving forward with curiosity and resolve.
“Every Bright Penny is a collection of songs about growth and change, and probably because it was written in a time in my life that was riddled with it –from when I was 17 on through 21,” Greene says. “It was written on napkins at my serving job, in notebooks in coffee shops, on staff paper for conservatory assignments, in improvisations, and even in voice memos recorded in the passenger seat on the highway mid-tour. Songwriting has always been my method of processing and finding my footing when things feel unclear – even if the stories were not my own, the emotion at the core always was. And at a time like this, when the future is so uncertain, I can’t help but cling to the same hope that is present in all of these songs. It was an absolute joy to make, to share in the realizations of these songs with such an incredible and gifted group of musicians and creators,” she adds. “I hope it brings the people who listen to it that same joy.”
Without further ado, Mother Church Pew proudly presents Every Bright Penny, the new LP from Liv Greene:
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