Alysson Light

Artist Information

Biography

Now based in New York City,
The Alysson Light Band is to acoustic music what Nickel Creek is to Bluegrass. Young performners with old souls and the energy and drive to get into your heart. Alysson's musical style is unique, combining elements of Pop, Folk, Jazz, and Rock. She's constantly searching for new ideas, listening to every possible genre of music, and encorporating the best in her original songs.
Alysson Light released her latest CD "Looking Glass Conversations", in 2004.

Young (dob 4/19/85), but already a veteran of the music scene in North Carolina and New York City, Alysson has been performing solo (just her voice and her piano) since she was 15. She has been called the fastest rising star of the North Carolina Triangle area by the local press, and has garnered best bets and spotlight articles across the US. Her 40 show, US tour this summer brought her music to hundreds in Southeast, Northeast, and Far West as she has worked hard to bring her music to as many towns and cities as she can. Her music is definitely not for teeny boppers, but will strike a chord with those who remember Joni Mitchell, or who enjoy the complex melodies and poetic lyrics of Tori Amos.
A few high points:
*#1 Artist Overall at Artist Launch.com, (July-Sept. 2002),
*#1 in Folk! #1 in Folk, Jazz, and Easy Listening April,02; at the same time,
*at Mp3.com she was #2 in Pop Vocals, #41 overall; and later #1 in Jazz Vocals!
*Finalist in 2002 NC Songwriting contest
*Finalist in 2003 NC Battle of the Bands as a Solo Artist!
*2 time Berklee College of Music Scholarship winner
*performed more than 150 shows, solo (including Lincoln Theatre, Berkeley Cafe' Cat's Cradle, Six String, Evening Muse, Middle East -Cambridge, Mass, Lion's Den, and C-Note, Knitting Factory,NYC, Eddie's Attic, GA, Ghengis Cohen, LA)
*TV and radio interviews, many press interviews locally and nationally

Alysson has worked hard to gain the respect of fans and the music community in the Triangle area. She has learned both her performance skills and understanding of the music business by the hard work of performing where ever people would listen. She is now highly sought after and plays the best listening rooms and clubs in the area.

Instrumentation

Alysson Light- piano, vocals
Luke Kalloch- guitar, vocals
Julie Gibbs- bass, vocals
Jason Schmidt- drums, percussioni

Discography

"Looking Glass Conversations" 2004
This CD has been promoted on folk radio stations all over the US, acheiving top 10 status at radio stations across the US.
Tracks from this CD have been #1 overall at www.artistlaunch.com, and #1 in Pop Vocals and Jazz Vocals at www.mp3.com
Tracks from this CD have been played on radio and TV

"Water" 2000
Tracks from this CD have been top 40 in Acoustic Rock at www.mp3.com

Audio

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• The Daily Tar Heel 8/23/01 [+ Show ]
  

  Chapel Hill Songstress Sheds Light on Cafe By Michael Abernethy ...Chapel Hill Songstress Sheds Light on Cafe
  By Michael Abernethy
  Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor
  ……….. talent and a lot of Tori Amos went a long way Friday night at Alysson Light's show at The Carrboro Open Eye Café. Light, a Chapel Hill native, is not afraid to bare her soul through her own song as well as reinterpretations of other well-known female singer/songwriters' famous works to entertain an audience. The 16-year-old singer/songwriter, accompanied only by her piano, played a set that consisted of many covers by recognizable female singer/songwriters interspersed with her own solid compositions. Though the set was dominated mainly by covers, Light's own compositions held the most impressive and entertaining moments in the show. The young artist's songs held up easily amongst the standards that surrounded them, telling stories of pain and angst set upon bleak landscapes. "Into Winter," described by Light as a "more recent" composition, was the best song she played all evening. It displayed a nice range of mood and tempo, at times rumbling like Amos, at others cooing and hushing in the vein of Sarah McLachlan's finest. Light's skill as a pianist was also highlighted best by her own "Moonshell." With its rapturous piano suite in the middle eight and a tight melody. Of all the covers Light played Friday evening, Heather Nova's "Truth and Bone" received the best interpretation. And though McLachlan, Stevie Nicks and The Indigo Girls all got their due, no artist was featured more than Amos. Light's cover of Amos' "Ettiene," with its rolling piano and vocal dives, was certainly one of the evening's highlights. ……………………Her cover of Leonard Cohen's classic, "Suzanne" was a much-needed break from the intense female emotion in the set list. Ultimately, what balanced Light's set was her shadowy, rippling voice. Her prodigous mastery and control of vocal phrasing and shape, even while covering such distinctive artists as Carole King, enabled Light to always find her own voice within the song.

• Daily Tar Heel [+ Show ]
  

  CHHS Sophomore Surges in Online Pop-Rock Charts Alysson Light says she has been influenced by the mu...CHHS Sophomore Surges in Online Pop-Rock Charts Alysson Light says she has been influenced by the music of "powerful women in rock" such as Heather Nova and Joni Mitchell.
  By WARREN WILSON Staff Writer
  By now, it shouldn't be any surprise when a Chapel Hill musician gains national acclaim. But one can't avoid being amazed when introduced to Alysson Light, the 15-year-old singer/songwriter and pianist whose self-penned "Liquid Eyes" reached number 18 on mp3.com's acoustic pop-rock chart as of Jan. 21. Light said people are often stunned by the fact that she is only a sophomore at Chapel Hill High School. "I love surprising people like that," she said. But, unlike commercial pop stars who can use their youth as a selling point, the anonymity of the Internet requires Light's music to stand on its own. It does, according to mp3.com users -"Liquid Eyes" has stayed in the top 50 downloads for two months. "('Liquid Eyes') is based on a girl I knew who had a very haunting kind of face,",Light said. “She has something that could make her .supernatural and more powerful, but also less human." Light's "hit" song, and the additional eight songs on her second album Water, were written in a week last August..

• Much more at www.alyssonlight.com [+ Show ]
  

  Many quotes and jpgs of the actual reviews are at www.alyssonlight.com jpgs can't be placed on th...Many quotes and jpgs of the actual reviews are at www.alyssonlight.com
  
  jpgs can't be placed on this online press kit.

Setlist

Typical set list is chosen from the songs below, with new songs being added constantly. She picks up new covers for every new show, and writes new songs at least once a month.

Sets are typically 50 minutes each. She often does 2 sets, back to back and has done 3 sets on several occasions.


Songs by Alysson Light (ASCAP)

(On the CD Water)
Liquid Eyes
Bring Me
Rain
Underwater
Something I Once Knew
Where are You Now?
Minna
Ten Thousand Years

(On the 2004 CD)
Never Know
Deep Inside
Pearl in the Oyster
Into Winter
Maybe
Moonshell
Lilac Sky
Two Stars
Galaxy
Hurricane

New Songs:
Forgiveness
Question not the Years
Lindsay Drove Away
Perpetuate
Crossroads
Life without Words
You'll Never be Here

(Song with piano music and arrangement by Alysson- Lyrics by Bob MacKenzie, melody by Cilla Leigh)
Silken Wind
(Song with vocal arrangement and vocals by Alysson- music and lyrics by Ellen Catherine Nash)
Broken Moon




Alysson Light's Cover list 4/17/03
Tori Amos
Amber Waves
a sorta fairytale
Silent all these Years
Winter
Etienne
Take to the Sky
Doughnut Song
Bliss
Purple People
Josephine
Way Down
Here. In my Head
Flying Dutchman
Cooling
Gold dust
Bells for Her

Sarah McLachlan
Angel
Ben's Song
Do what you have to do
Hold On
I will remember you
Full of Grace

Judy Collins
Since you've asked
Born to the Breed
Houses

Joni Mitchell
Free Man in Paris
A Case of you
Played Real Good for Free
Rainy Night House
Big Yellow Taxi
Both Sides Now
Court and Spark

Carole King
It's Too Late
You've Got a Friend
Home Again

Heather Nova
Truth and Bone
New Love
Water from Wine
Frontier
Blind

Natalie Merchant
Thick as Thieves
Frozen Charlotte
My Skin
King of May


Paula Cole
Nietzsche's Eyes
Me

Jewel
Foolish Games

Leonard Cohen
Suzanne

Stevie Nicks
Landslide

Simon and Garfunkel
For Emily
Only living boy in NY

Neil Young
Like a Hurricane

John Phillips (Scott MacKenzie)
San Francisco (wear some flowers in your hair)

Fiona Apple
Shadowboxer

Indigo Girls
Ghost
Mystery

Laura Nyro
Stone Soul Picnic

John Lennon
Imagine

Chantall Kraviaz
Surrounded

Sleater Kenney
Light Rail Coyote

Ani DeFranco
Both Hands

Sleater-Kenney
Light Rail Coyote

Basic Requirements

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