Album Notes

A singer-songwriter who calls the mountains of New Mexico home, Liz Painter is a poet with a heart to bring what she has to say to the world. Painter’s second record, What if? has a dreaminess and hopefulness about it. With a catchy tune she poses the question, “What if all the thoughts in your mind… were just a little more kind?” Painter has a fresh quality and a strong and sensitive vocal presentation that at times is reminiscent of the tender voice of Joan Baez. Her songs move around from sultry and provocative to funkified.


What if? was recorded in Alamosa CO with Don Richmond who said, “It's a fine album - wonderfully creative, varied, catchy and moving - all the stuff a good record ought to be.” What if? features 14 original songs that have contagious melodies. “Seabird trips along like the happy flow of a mountain stream, the lyrics swell like the cheerful notes of a warbler’s song” says Ariana Kramer of the Taos News … What if? began as a live video recording that happened shortly after the band returned from touring Home Before Dark (2007). The project was recorded almost entirely in one day at Adams State College in Alamosa, CO, and then expanded into a full length CD. Rodger Cloud of Cloud Microphones pitched in with a number of high –quality ribbon microphones. A few songs were touched up or re-cut in the studio and Don Richmond contributed to the instrumental richness of the songs with trumpet, violin, harmonica, guitars, mandolin, pedal steel guitar, accordion, electric guitar, electric violin, American Indian flute and castanets.

The physical CD is really a treasure worth owning. What if? comes in a six-panel digipak with a booklet of luscious imagery designed with Heather Sparrow of Sparrow Photography. “The classic cherry red Chevrolet on the cover of Liz Painter’s latest CD belonged to her grandfather. But the red dress she wears amid green fields and blue skies is her own, as are the songs that travel from Tucson to Taos, two desert towns Painter has called home.” writes Ariana Kramer of the Taos News.