GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Each time Grand Rapids-based folkie Liz Snavely takes the stage, it's a personal triumph.
Live performance doesn't come naturally for her -- she describes herself as possessing "major anxiety" about it.
"It's very uncomfortable for me to perform, but I also love it. Part of the anxiety is the excitement," Snavely said.
She's had a lot of practice conquering that feeling lately. Snavely has performed in Michigan and Indiana for years and is working to make a name for herself on a national level.
Strength in pain
Much of Snavely's music contains a subtext of internal struggle, of powerless people working through pain and showing their inner strength. Snavely, who spent much of her youth in the foster-care system around her hometown of Elkhart, Ind., understands those feelings.
"As a kid, I didn't have choices of where I lived, what I did or anything like that. I was controlled by the state, basically," Snavely said. "I knew during that time that what I was going to do was write music. That was going to be my healing or my release -- and it has been."
A couple of months ago, Snavely did what many artists dream of doing -- she quit her day job to focus on her craft full time.
"It's fantastic so far and very terrifying at the same time," she said.
Snavely writes all her material. While most of the songs are autobiographical, she said she tries to make them universal. "Something moves me to write -- it's usually something that happened in my life or to somebody I'm close to," Snavely said. "It just kind of turns out that most of the stuff that I do write, a lot of people can relate to."
Duo or solo
Snavely often works as one half of the folk music duo LVNMUZIQ -- pronounced 'loving music' -- but lately she's working on her own. She's losing her bass player Greg Lindauer in March, in part because he wants to start a family, and in part because it's easier financially to tour as a solo performer.
In April, she begins a seven-state swing on the West Coast. She released her first full-length recording, "Orange Kiss" in July. It was produced by Lance Eichler at Eastown Recording. "He's a real hard-core heavy-metal player, and that's what I wanted. I don't want to just be a folk singer," she said. "I like that, don't get me wrong. I love Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez and all that, but that's not me," she said. "I wanted to be a little edgier, so I wanted to get a little edgier dude."
In Your Ear - Folk on the Edge
