Tim Hughes is treated to some heartfelt home truths by former Californian folk-rocker – turned independently-minded Midwestern farmer – Lissie

Honest and heartfelt, Lissie is one of those songwriters whose soul is an open book.

The American folk-rock singer, real name Elisabeth Corrin Maurus, has never attempted to hide her feelings – freely sharing her hopes and desires, and letting us into her world of joy and elation as much as those darker moments of isolation and despair.

“I have never been one who is good at hiding my thoughts and feelings and I really think out loud,” she tells me, speaking from Oslo airport, where she is about to board a plane to Manchester, for the start of a UK tour, which reaches Oxford on Saturday.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but with me you know what you’re getting!”

The date, at the O2 Academy Oxford, comes the day after she releases her third album, which, like almost everything else she’s done so far, is all about Lissie.

“Really it’s just straightforward, heartfelt reflections,” she admits. “It’s folk rock, but, ya know, there’s some pop, soul and even a lil’ country twang in there too.”

Called My Wild West, it tells the story of this lusciously blonde Midwestern girl’s adventures in California, and subsequent move to Iowa.

“Not to oversimplify it at all, but My Wild West is just another body of work that allows me to share my feelings and stories as they come,” she tells me. “I do feel that it’s a different sort of album in that it was my first time overseeing my own project fully.

“The subject matter is a lot more about my relationship with myself and where I belong than say, boys!”

She laughs and continues: “It’s a collection of what I call ‘my California years’. The making of this album allowed me to reflect on a great chapter of my life while looking forward to the next.”

California has indeed been good to Lissie, whose striking looks come from her Scandinavian ancestry.

Fans include Lenny Kravitz and Tom Petty, who both invited her to support them on tour, Ed Harcourt, with whom she co-wrote the song Oh Mississippi, and actors Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, who asked her to sing at their wedding, for Heaven’s sake.

Her previous albums Catching a Tiger and Back to Forever reached, respectively, 12 and 16 in the UK album chart, and her singles have accumulated stacks of accolades. Which all begs the question: why did she choose to leave her home in sunny Ojai, out there in Ventura Valley, just beyond the sprawl of Los Angeles, and move to a farm in the middle of nowhere.

“I grew up in the Midwest and knew I’d always wanted to buy a farm in Iowa and also eventually get to live closer to family,” she explains. “In early 2015, some gut instinct just kicked in and said it was time.”

And does she miss the Golden State? “I’ve been keeping very busy and am in transit, like all the time!

“It hasn’t all sunk in yet. But yes, I miss my house and the sunshine. I miss friends and my band. I’ll be bouncing back and forth for promo and shows though, so hopefully that’ll help.”

She continues: “I’m in constant ‘go’ mode right now. My house is under construction and, once I get off the road in the spring, I look forward to moving in and settling. I think at that point I can share more.

“It was appealing to move closer to family as well as purchase a lot of land in a way I couldn’t do in crowded, expensive Cali! I can say that Midwesterners are friendly and down to earth people but the winters can be brutal!”

She concedes, enigmatically in song at least, that things were not always sunny on the West Coast. On her tune Hero, she tells us: “I want my 40 acres in the sun…I could have been a hero, I could have been a zero, I could have been all of these things”.

“I am not proud of how I unhealthily obsess about boys and relationships I’ve ruined,” she confesses. “Also having zero willpower to quit any of my bad habits.

“But I try to be really open and curious about people. I hope that people feel good about themselves when they’re around me or at least feel like I’m not a threat.

“I feel like some people can be so unfriendly, maybe it’s because they’re shy, or having a bad grumpy day. Or maybe they’re just too cool for school. But I would hope that people can see my good intentions. And I’m proud that I’m not some prissy dick just cause society views my occupation as more interesting than others.”

Oxford Mail:

  • Take me to the river: Lissie is unafraid to share her feelings in song

What comes across very strongly is a sense of her own independence… of a woman doing it on her own terms for herself.

She is, she says happily, her own boss.

“Now that I’m an independent artist and, in the case of this album, like my own director and label, am very happy,” she says. “I work with a lot of great people though, who weigh in and give me direction, but ultimately I do feel this freedom to make decisions for my career based on what feels right for me and not as a duty owed to anyone.”

And she is better alone, she insists. “I started out as solo acoustic artist and have recently gotten back to that more,” she says. “I love playing and creating music with others, and it is more fun and communal, but there’s something nice and freeing about knowing I can turn up with an acoustic guitar and get my spirit across.”

She goes on: “I don’t know how to see myself. At times I think I’m strong and independent minded. Generally I think I have a pretty strong internal compass but I can be flighty too!” She laughs again, adding: “I find my mind getting tugged this way and that at times.”

While relishing her independence, she is backed on tour by the The Travelling Band.

“It’s a brand new experience and is sounding pretty rockin’ and awesome already!” she says.

The resulting sound is pure Americana, but those wide-open songs speak to us all.

“I have a British friend who told me ‘You’re the most American person I know’!” she says with delight.

“But I think that a lot of the things I sing about, like heartbreak, loss and finding peace in the world, those are all pretty universal topics. I hope people can see themselves in my songs. I’m in a really good place,” she goes on. “In fact, I’m already planning a follow-up album, My Mild Midwest.”

Where and when
Lissie plays the O2 Academy Oxford on Saturday.
Tickets available from ticketweb.co.uk