Song Lore: The Songs That Built Lucy Wise

I try not to have favourites with articles, but this one is certainly a contender!

Lucy Wise is a beloved singer-songwriter in the Australian folk scene. Her performances are captivating and beautiful, and hearing the stories behind the songs in this Song Lore feels like being handed the key to a hidden room. If you haven't heard her music before, get your heart ready.

I loved reading about her childhood in Western Australia, raised by two folk musicians. I loved the way Sufjan Stevens opened up the possibility of writing any kind of music she wanted. And I loved (though perhaps “loved” is the wrong word) reading about what Punch Brothers can do to your psyche when you’re young, ambitious, and already a little too good at measuring yourself against impossible standards.

This is a Song Lore about family music, folk festival childhoods, perfectionism, recovery, songwriting, and learning to go gently while still making work that is brave and deeply felt.

About our Song Lore series:

In this series, musicians trace their origin story through the songs that shaped them. You get to hear how those threads run through hometowns and heartbreaks, teachers and turning points, before coming together to shape an artist’s sound.

You also gets some excellent music recommendations along the way!

Listen along with the companion playlist on YouTube or Apple Music for the full sensory experience.

Where Lucy began

I was raised on Wadandi Boodja, Margaret River, in Southwest WA by two musicians of Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Dutch heritage. My roots are in playing music with my family, and we played folk music together from when my two sisters and I were very young. My dad, Scott Wise is also a luthier, so there were always instruments laying around the house, ready to be picked up and noodled around on.

We started performing at local festivals with the name ‘The Wise Family Band’, me and my sisters playing fiddles and singing harmonies along with our parents, and eventually we started to take turns leading songs. When I was 11 we started to perform at festivals “Over East”, driving across the Nullarbor to perform at folk festivals each year.

The first song I sang the lead for in the family band was "The Brandy Tree". It tells a story of the life of a sea otter, written by American songwriter/composer Gordon Bok. It’s got a magical, dream-like quality, describing the ocean landscape that is home to the sea otter in vivid detail. This visually potent sort of lyric writing filtered into how I would write songs later on.

Call to Adventure: the moment music hooked her

When I first heard the music of Sufjan Stevens when I was 15, I was blown away. His Illinoise album had me in awe from the first listen: the rich worlds created in every song, the soaring woodwind and strings parts, the heartfelt singing and lyric writing, and the uniqueness of its sound.

This album made me realise I could write any kind of music I wanted, and I felt a spark of wanting to go on adventures with the songs I wrote. I would listen to that album over and over, writing down the lyrics, working out the chords on my ukulele.

Meanwhile other songs were growing my love of other aspects of music:

Gillian Welch's 'Time, The Revelator' taught me the catharsis that can come from songs of devastation and sorrow.

'Lonestar' by Lee Alexander, recorded by Norah Jones, and all the songs on Norah's Come Away With Me album, taught me about the joy of a simple song.

The mentors who shaped your musical DNA

Back in the 2000s, one of the festivals my family played at was the Araluen Folk Festival in WA.

I heard Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton there for the first time and I absolutely fell in love with their music. I remember them showing me and my sisters one-finger chords in DADGAD tuning. I forgot about it for a few years, then went to Kate's DADGAD guitar workshop at a music camp later on in high school, and I was hooked. DADGAD became the main tuning I used to write songs in for many years.

Watching my mum and dad play in their duo when I was young, I learned all the lyrics to their songs by osmosis.

My mum was a huge inspiration for me wanting to write songs and play fiddle. I remember hearing her practicing her wildly beautiful fiddle tunes and writing songs in the music room at home, it seemed like she was always writing. I think I always wanted to be able to play guitar as well as my dad.

Growing up going to folk festivals, there were so many artists who inspired me to want to be a musician. Sitting up the front on the floor, I got to watch Andy Irvine sing, and his fingers dance over the fretboard. Nancy Kerr and James Fagan. Kristina Olsen. So many wonderful storytellers who just seemed to have music in their bones.

For me I think becoming a musician was inevitable. Some people raise an eyebrow and ask “but did you have a choice?” No, I didn't really have a choice. Music just swept me up, from a young age. There were definitely things about performing from a young age that were really hard. But at the same time, there was so much joy in going to festivals and soaking up so much music. I am very grateful to have had this experience.

Crossing the Threshold: Her first time stepping into the public world

A song I associate with the very beginning of my journey as a singer-songwriter is "Something Pocket Sized". It also happens to be the first song that I wrote that I was happy with. I wrote it when I was 15, and recorded it on my first EP when I was 19, in 2009. I then re-recorded it on my debut album in 2010.

This song makes me think of being a teenager wanting to move to Melbourne as soon as I could to be with my folk festival friends. The recording of that first EP, when I was 18 and living in Melbourne, is a precious memory for me. It encapsulates community, fun, and tasting freedom for the first time, as a young adult doing my own thing.

Trials and Transformations: Touring, heartbreak, learning craft

I was absolutely floored when I heard The Punch Brothers Antifogmatic album...and it also sent me into a sort of panic. How could acoustic music be this precise, this polished?

The Punch Brothers' music lit a fire in me of wanting to strive for excellence, but also at that time, my perfectionism was starting to grow incredibly loud.

The next few years would see me grappling with some hard things – stress, mental ill health, and generally struggling to find joy in playing music, partly because my standards were so high.

The Punch Brothers’ music came to me at a time when I was a bit vulnerable. With my blinkers on, trying so hard to reach 'success', I was constantly burning out, and didn't know how to look after myself.

Listening to the Punch Brothers now, I don't just hear polish and perfection. I hear there is so much heart in their music. Some of it really captures that sense of awe at being alive in the world. 'This is the Song' sent ripples through me like a pebble in a calm pool. I think it did for many people.

Making a sustainable life from doing art is a hard thing, and the balance between art and other work is a constant juggle, shifting all the time. Now, I feel compassion for my younger self, and I can listen to music without measuring how good or bad I am against it. I'm kind of grateful the music of The Punch Brothers sparked this part of my journey.

The Revelation

It was Spring 2017. I was re-emerging after a very difficult time; I had experienced two major mental health episodes in the space of two years, the first of which happened while I was on tour in the UK, and second had happened when I’d been at home for a year.

I was grappling with anxiety and uncertainty. At the same time, I was ever so gently stepping back toward songwriting and performing. I had written a bunch of new songs since being home, and within a couple of months, had recorded a new album, 'Winter Sun', with the help of producer Nick Huggins.

"Solid Ground" was the lead single from this album. I didn’t realise it at the time, but it marked a turning point. The song is about empowerment and becoming your own person. It was also the first time I was stepping out on my own, without the help of my longtime collaborators in 'Lucy Wise & The B'Gollies' and 'Lucy Wise Trio'. Although I was nervous and uncertain, I was creating something that was truly my own. I am so grateful to Nick for so gently guiding me through the process of recording Winter Sun.

This song marked a new relationship with myself as a songwriter: I was starting to write more about what I feel. In my work prior to this, I used to hide behind my writing a little. I would either tell stories abstractly, with lots of cryptic imagery, or I would tell a story through a character.

After "Solid Ground", I started writing more from my own experience, which was incredibly connecting and freeing, and also scary, especially when I started to write more about my experiences with mental health.

When I played these songs that were on deeper topics, many people came up to me after shows, saying how much the songs meant to them. In my 2023 album, Into The Blue which I recorded with producer Luke Plumb, I went deeper into the theme of mental health with my songs "Cold Winds" and "To Be Steady". As I kept writing and performing, it seemed that showing more of who I am in my songs and performance was helping listeners connect with their own story, and to what mattered to them.

The Return: Where she is now

I am about to release my fifth album, Salt, on the 17th September.

I am incredibly proud of this body of work, and it was so much fun co-producing the album with Luke Plumb. Luke really helped craft the sound, which is inspired by a lot of 90s folk-rock and pop music.

The songs explore belonging, connection and joy, and how living in the world we're in can impact these experiences.

I am very excited to share it with the world, and to take my band on the road on an Australian East Coast album tour this September-October.

The lead single from the new album is "V Line".

This is a summery folk/country track with a nostalgic feel, and it tells the story of someone who has moved to the country, but is unsure about her decision, so she keeps taking the train into Melbourne to party with her friends. It was so much fun creating a music video for this song with videographer Willy Pleasance and dancer/choreographer Danni Ray.

At the moment I’m juggling teaching private music lessons with performing. It can be tricky to get a good balance between the two. I'm working on shifting the balance to performing more, which I've felt apprehensive about, but now it feels exciting.

There's no right way to make a life as an artist, there is just what feels right for you at the time. I'm trying to listen to my gut, and do what I need to do to stay connected to what feeds my soul – community, art, nature. I'm also trying to have compassion for all parts of myself, even the ones that get in the way sometimes.

Mostly, I am trying to go gently, and as often as I remember, breathe in the air, smell the wattles that are blooming now, watch the chickens strutting about the garden. Through the support of my wonderful partner, friends, family and therapists, I am healthier now than I have ever been.

Thanks Lucy!

Lucy is launching her album and has gigs right across Australia, so if you're in the country you can see her live!

Her album comes out on 17th September.

Links to gigs and great music on her website: https://lucywise.com.au/