June 27

Here's to Lisa Germano, another legend along the outskirts of popular music. Lisa's career began as a violinist; she was good enough to join John Mellencamp's band.


Besides her seven-year run in Mellencamp's band, she became an in-demand session player for scores of artists, and not just for her violin playing.



She began to get notice for her singing - and her songwriting. In the 90's, she signed with Capitol Records, then 4AD; 4AD would release several of her critically acclaimed releases. But one very bad year (1998) nearly discouraged her from performing altogether: she was invited to join the Smashing Pumpkins, then fired the night before their US tour, then she did a solo tour for her most recent album, only to learn mid-tour that her label dumped her. She quit music after the tour, and got a job at a bookstore.

But she couldn't give up writing songs, or singing them, and returned to the game, but found better partners. Today, she's signed with an indie label (Young Guns) and has resumed her prolific tendencies. That's good; we need more songs as beautiful as this...