“Her expression of self-penned lyrics struck me as cool smoke lifting way into the sky. She makes you want to hear her words.” - Bowen, Threadgill's (Austin, TX)

Articles, Reviews & Interviews

Song of the Soul podcast

Gracefully Walking Though Fire With Vanessa Lively

On the website of Vanessa Lively you'll see noted that she creates folk & world music that beautifully joins heartfelt lyrics with soulful vocals. This is true - deeply true - and time with Vanessa is a rich, deep, and also uplifting experience.

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The Austin Chronicle

Finding Community in Austin’s Homeless Song Circle

The residents at Community First! Village, a virtual hamlet of cottages and campers in East Austin, are familiar with not having space, having struggled in the past to find secure housing. Nevertheless, on Monday afternoons a group comes together and trades tunes. It's Austin's only song circle specifically for people recovering from living on the streets. 

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Austin Woman Magazine

Home Street Music is Restoring Dignity to the Homeless

Music has always been an integral part of Vanessa Lively’s life. She has used it as a means of self-expression and to process the world around her. But Lively also wanted to utilize music to connect with a particular group of people who have lost some of their own self-worth: the homeless.

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How Did I Get Here? - Podcast Interview

Episode 881: Vanessa Lively

Hello friends! Austin-based, singer/songwriter, Vanessa Lively is my guest for episode 881! Her new ep, I Am just came out in 2019 and is available wherever you stream or download the jams. Go to vanessalively.com for show dates, music and more. Vanessa started a non-profit called Home Street Music that empowers people experiencing homelessness through music. You can find out how to get involved at homestreetmusic.org. We have a great conversation about taking hiatus from her music career to have children and coming back with renewed passion, I Am, where she got the idea for Home Street Music, Folk Alliance and much more!

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Maverick Magazine

Review: Truth Is – Vanessa Lively

Texas songwriter, Vanessa Lively leans more towards folk and world music rather than country but country fans can surely appreciate her lyricism and soulful voice.

The album begins with ‘(Truth Is) I Am Found’ which features an unusual production but nevertheless the cello is beautiful. This record in particular takes listeners on a journey. Lively, composing these songs fresh from the breakdown of a twenty year marriage, draws upon personal experience as she learns to find herself again.

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Truth Is Album Review

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“(Truth Is) I Am Found” opens the listen with Lively’s soulful pipes alongside hand clapping, warm bass from Katie Marie and Dirje Childs’ strong cello playing in the very expressive climate, and “Crumbling Down” follows with a very poetic approach that benefits from Lively’s intimate pipes and Nicolette Good’s well timed backing vocals.

In the middle, the playful strings of “Running With Wolves” are met with vivid storytelling, while “In Between” offers a delicate, acoustic guitar fueled, folk friendly album highlight.

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