If things had worked out as Lucy Isabel had originally planned, she would be firmly planted in New York right now, using the theater degree she got from Yale as a working actor. Instead, shortly after graduation, the New Jersey native left theater behind and moved to Nashville to become a touring singer\/songwriter. She spends a lot of time on the road, which is partly why her new debut full-length album is called Rambling Stranger. A lot of the songs deal with Isabel traveling, or being in one place and thinking about another, playing music. There is adventure but also isolation in that life. To start her new life, Isabel and her now husband endured a long-distance relationship until her could join her in Nashville. The lyrics to \u201cLucky Stars\u201d reflect that, as she sings, \u201cI slept with my guitar in my arms last night\/because I didn\u2019t want to think I was alone with you not home.\u201d Her theater degree taught her how to tell other people\u2019s stories \u2013 now she is telling her own.<\/p>\n
And Isabel is a fast learner. You can hear the progression in Isabel\u2019s songwriting and performing from her two EPs, Along the Way and Kane, to the new album. The playing is more crisp, the imagery better defined and more evocative. I\u2019m happy to have captured a couple of the songs as she played them in Boston at A Concert for Clean Water, a show sponsored by a local apparel company that donates some of their profits to efforts to clean up water supplies. <\/p>\n