Booking Information - for venues, house concerts & festivals
Live Concert Reviews
"Vanessa and her music embody the traditions of great Cactus performers past and present while bringing her own flair for world, folk and pop styles to our stage." -- Matt Muñoz, manager/booking agent - The Cactus Cafe, Austin, TX
"Vanessa hails from San Antonio, is bilingual and bicultural - and beautiful inside and out. Her concerts are a spiritual experience." -- Duggan Flanakin, Flanfire.com
"Vanessa Lively gave the most passionate performance of a song I have ever seen." -- Matt Peyton, No Depression
Music Description
Vanessa Lively's eclectic blend of folk music beautifully joins heartfelt lyrics & soulful vocals. With a compelling mix of tempos and styles that embrace hints of urban, world, Latin, funk and pop, Lively’s songs fully capture her compassionate nature and love of community.
Notable Venues Played
The Cactus Cafe - Austin, Texas (USA)
The Kessler Theatre - Dallas, Texas (USA)
The Green Note - London, England (UK)
The Railway - Greenfield, England (UK)
Momo's Club - Austin, Texas (USA)
Silver Moon Brewery - Bend, Oregon (USA)
Googie's Lounge - New York City, New York (USA)
Austin Acoustical Cafe - Austin, Texas (USA)
Notable Accomplishments
1/04/12 - Vanessa Lively was named one of the Best Artists of 2011 by KUNC & Uncovering Stones was #5 on their Top 10 Albums of 2011!
10/04/11 - Every track from Lively's new album Uncovering Stones is receiving airplay on stations around the world!
09/24/11 - Vanessa is awarded the AG Award for Texas Female Singer-Songwriter of the 21st Century (by Alvarez Galloso)
08/18/11 - Vanessa is the featured Artist of the Week in Alternate Root Magazine
06/12/11 - Vanessa's song "Digging Up Dirt" is featured for the second time on NPR's EarthSky
12/17/09 - Mayor Lee Leffingwell proclaims December 17th as "Vanessa Lively Day" in Austin, Texas
10/12/09 - Humane Society features "The Only Day There Is" on their new website
02/02/08 - United Mine Workers of America features Vanessa's song "For the Miners" on their website
Performance and Radio One Sheets
Downloadable Press Photos
Live Radio Performance
"Digging Up Dirt" Live on Austin360 Radio - July 14, 2011
Live Concert Videos
Biography
For a woman who thrives on jumping into the unknown with both feet, Vanessa Lively took an unusual approach to her new album, Uncovering Stones. She and her producer-husband, Jason, planned it practically down to the last note before stepping near a recording studio – a room in their Austin home, tricked out for the sessions by co-producer/engineer Keith Gary. Vanessa even painted the album art beforehand – on 42 canvas squares she sold individually to help fund the 12-song disc.
It’s an uncommon approach, but Lively is an uncommon woman. Born in San Antonio and raised partly in the Texas border area of Brownsville/Laredo, she’s an adventure seeker who loves pursuing alternative experiences, including raking blueberries in Maine as a migrant farm worker and moving to South America with her husband to do volunteer work in impoverished areas.
Lively recorded her first album, Let Me Rise, while she was living in Ecuador, followed by her second A Chain Unbroken, which was recorded in Northern England. Her third, Canto y Cantera, was a tribute to Argentinean singer Mercedes Sosa and the nueva canción song movement she popularized.
Making music constantly during her sojourn in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, she observed how strongly it connected people. Uncovering Stones is, she says, an expression of that experience, filled with representative themes: “Community, living in solidarity with those around you. Feeling what other people’s struggles and joys are and being connected with them.”
With a compelling mix of tempos and styles that embrace “hints of urban, world, Latin, funk and pop,” Lively’s songs fully capture her compassionate nature and love of community.
And from the beginning, she involved her own community, encouraging friends to offer advice about her painting and music. Some of them – who happen to be among Austin’s top musicians – were invited to participate in the recording sessions.
Lively is thrilled with the result; she says Uncovering Stones is the album she dreamed of making – an inspiring album full of energy and beauty.