Lucy Stone, a Philadelphia artist will be playing Penn State’s Artsfest on July 14th. Lucy’s recently released her EP, which is available for free streaming and download here. Lucy was recently named Philadelphia’s Deli Artist of the month, and was featured on xpn’s The Key. The article states, “Singer-songwriter Lucy Stone recently came to our attention with a wonderful three-song EP. Excellently arranged, these pop songs bring to mind the work of Natalie Merchant and Paula Cole, and Lucy has a very confident and strong pop singing style”.
Lucy Stone is scheduled to perform on July 14th at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts at the Sidney Friedman Park Stage at 7:30PM.
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SITR’s Exclusive Interview with Lucy Stone
SITR: How did your passion for music begin?
My love for music was ingrained in me at a very young age. My mother is an artist, and my father an entrepreneur, however music was always a large part of their lives. They both have really great voices, and when I was really little they used to sing me to sleep. My favorite was “Surfer Girl” by the Beach Boys – my dad would take the lead while my mom sang harmonies. They were basically showing me the ropes before I even knew I wanted to be a musician.
SITR: Who are the biggest artists you have played with or opened for?
I’m very grateful to have been a part of so many different bands over the past couple of years. When I was about sixteen my best friend and I got to open up for The Dirty Projectors, one of our absolute favorite bands. That experience was the highlight of my high school years. I’ve also gotten to open up for Cymbals Eat Guitars, B.o.B and Major Lazer.
SITR: What or who is your greatest influence when writing music?
Elliott Smith’s music has always had a really significant effect on me. And of course The Beatles, who taught me everything I know about pop music. Recently I’ve been listening to St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens and Andrew Bird – their lyrics and melodies are so thoughtful it’s hard not to be inspired.
SITR: How did this EP come about and when do you hope to have your first full-length album?
I met Brandon Bost and Paul Impellizeri a little over a year ago in Philly. I was a huge fan of their band, Wild Rompit, and approached Brandon about helping me record a solo album. Brandon and I worked through the songs and decided to expand the arrangements for a full band, enlisting Paul to play bass. When it came time to record we were on a tight schedule and a few musicians short. Luckily, our friends Sean Donaghy and Isaac Louis were more than happy to dedicate their time and talents. We worked straight through most nights, and would go to class hilariously groggy, but excited, the next morning. We were all equally proud of the end result, and the guys decided that they wanted to stick with it, turning what started as an attempted acoustic solo EP into a full-time band. We’re pretty set on finishing the full length by the end of 2012, but hope it will be done by October.
SITR: What has been the general response to your newly released EP?
We released “Would You?” in late April after Bruce Warren from WXPN was nice enough to do a write up about the EP on their music blog, “The Key”. Before that we had casually posted the EP to a Bandcamp page, primarily to send around to family and friends. The write up was extremely helpful in launching the project, and shortly thereafter we won the Philadelphia Deli Magazine’s “Artist of the Month”. We’ve gotten an overwhelmingly supportive response from the EP. Philadelphia is such a close-knit city, and it seems that everyone we’ve talked to is eager to help us out, which is probably one of the best feelings you can have as a musician.
SITR: Where do you see yourself after this summer and what are your goals for the near future?
We haven’t been a band for very long, but we’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of really great opportunities extended to us. We have about 6 more summer shows, and a lot of material that we want to have recorded before we go on tour in September, so for now we’re focused on developing as a band. When we come back from tour we’re going to spend most of our time finishing up the full length.
SITR: Do you have any suggestions for an aspiring young artist who wants to be heard or perform?
A saying I’ve been told many times is, “Don’t burn the candle at both ends.” It’s a solid piece of advice and also happens to be my parent’s key phrase – which may or may not be one of the reasons that I do exactly the opposite. It’s definitely important to make realistic goals for yourself, but if you’re seriously dedicated to something I believe in taking every opportunity and challenge that comes your way, even if it means losing a couple nights’ sleep.
SITR: Is there anything else you would like to mention or shows you have coming up?
July 14th, State College, PA – Arts Fest, 7:30 pm, Sidney Friedman Park
July 19th, Philadelphia, PA – North Star Bar w/ Gold Motel, 8:00 pm
July 21st, Baltimore, MD – Artscape, 3:00 pm
July 27th, Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony w/ Rusted Root, 8:00 pm