Take This Job and Love It

‘THOSE ARE THE BEST MOMENTS’ A little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, Lizzie No ’09 lets her music do the talking.

It was almost a confession, a plea to the world to understand the unnerving thought that always threatens to stifle the voice of Lizzie No ’09. After pouring out lyrics and dressing them in a melody, there is that moment just before she commits her creation to a recording when doubt seizes her. She made this clear in late January when she tweeted, “Every time I sit in front of a mic and record, I’m like, Wow, I’m nothing.”

“It’s such a crazy feeling because I really do believe that writing songs is the thing that I am best at in this world,” says No, perhaps better known to Lawrenceville classmates as Lizzie Quinlan. “It is what I’m meant to do.”

She’s got a point: In 2016, No was the recipient of the American Songwriter lyrics contest and was a finalist in the New England Indie Rock Competition. Last May, No and the first cut off her second album, “Vanity,” were highlighted by Rolling Stone as a “Song You Need to Know.” She has every reason to express herself with confidence, and she does.

“You get really excited, and you become almost obsessed with this thing for however long it takes to finish it,” No says of songwriting. “It’s a little love affair that you have with the song, and you’re so excited.”

Growing up, No and her sister were encouraged by their parents to be musical, and she played the violin and sang in a choir. Soon her creativity began to blossom, making up lyrics to parody pop songs, or singing harmony to music on the radio.

“That’s when it started to become my own thing,” No says, “and not just something that someone else was having me do.”

Later, as a Lawrenceville student, No and a few friends played at a Valentine’s Day coffee house in Irwin Dining Center. They came up with an arrangement of “I Hear Them All” by Old Crow Medicine Show, a bluegrass country hit, and afterward they continued to play together. For No, the experience resonated.

“That’s when I really felt that feeling that anyone who’s ever been in a band feels like: I’m part of something. This feels really, really good,” she says. “So I’ve just really been chasing that forever.”

No says she grew up steeped in folk music, with James Taylor and Peter, Paul, and Mary providing the soundtrack of her youth. Branching out, she soon identified with Tracy Chapman and the Indigo Girls – “People who were really talented musically, but also had a message, and who were just so substantive and spoke truth to power,” she says.

Only at Lawrenceville did No gain an ear for the sounds of country and bluegrass, which instantly attracted her stylistically.

“It’s a spiritual thing. That’s just what sticks with me the most,” she says. “And it wasn’t until I heard Valerie June that it clicked in my head that you could be a black girl and play twangy country music. It is still a surprise to me, but it also was inevitable.”

At Stanford, No played in a number of bands before graduating, a milestone that placed her at her first crossroads.

“You face that moment once you’ve graduated, when you say, ‘I have this fancy degree; what am I going to do with it?’” No says. “But I still felt this pull, like I really needed to keep writing and performing. So that was my path to it, and I’ve just been hustling since then.”

The hustle is perhaps the defining characteristic for a performer like No, who balances writing and recording with tours to

String-Along: Whether by harp or guitar, Lizzie No ’09 creates the melodies that back her award-winning lyrics.

support her albums and build her audience. Dividing her performances are long days on the road.

“You’ll drive one day, play one day, drive one day, and play one day,” she says of the pace, noting that a typical tour includes a variety of venues – bar shows, festivals, and smaller theaters – “with a ton of driving and podcasts and coffee in between.”

Perhaps you’ve seen a performer take the stage at night and wondered what they did with their day prior to that moment.

“They probably sat in a car!” No quips, before elaborating about life on the road.

“You’re very isolated, and all you have to do is do a good job at the show and drive safely to where you’re going,” she says. “Your focus is, Let me get a healthy meal so I feel good. Let me take a nap in the afternoon. Let me drink a bunch of water. It’s almost a meditative state where all of your focus is towards this one purpose.”

No’s debut album, 2017’s Hard Won, came on the heels of her winning entry in the American Songwriter magazine’s lyrics contest. In a sense, the victory imbued her with the confidence to take that next step as an artist.

“I was blown away – not only were they going to publish my lyrics in the magazine, but I was winning a guitar, and I didn’t know how to play guitar at the time,” she says. “I got this beautiful Gibson SJ-100 in the mail, and I was like, ‘OK, I guess it’s time to launch my solo career.’ That was definitely a kick in the butt to start working on my own music.”

The folky Hard Won, which garnered No a spot on NPR’s Weekend Edition, was followed by last year’s Vanity, which has more of a rocker’s edge. It also features a cover photo that links

Photo by Donnelly Marks

No back to her childhood in a very personal way, while cleverly playing on the name of the album.

“I got this bathrobe that was my mom’s that she wore in the hospital when I was born,” No says in explaining her wardrobe choice for the image, on which she sits atop a bathroom sink, in front of a mirror. “I just thought it so pretty, and it was so meaningful.”

Those recordings have become touchstones for her fans, who are often eager to relate a song’s personal relevance to No, an experience she savors.

“Sometimes someone I’ve never met will say, ‘I heard that song of yours on Spotify,’ and it means something to them that I hadn’t thought of,” she says, “but somehow relates to the song that I wrote. Those are the best moments.”