Lilli Lewis is originally from Athens, Georgia, but has built her career and home in New Orleans, where she composed her first song on piano at age three and went on to train as an opera singer and classical pianist. She first became known as the "Folk Rock Diva" fronting The Shiz, a folk-rock band she founded with her wife, Liz Hogan, in 2009, following her 2008 debut album, Out from Yonder.
Lewis's full ensemble, the Lilli Lewis Project, describes itself as "not so much a band but rather a pan-generational cult of radical decency," a nine-piece festival favorite at home in New Orleans backed by an equally potent traveling trio. Her albums We Belong (2019) and My American Heart: Red + Blue (2020) both drew praise from the jazz press, with one reviewer comparing her to opera legend Jessye Norman. In 2020, Lewis co-wrote and co-produced "Mask Up! COVID Down!" for Louisiana Red Hot Records' public health efforts during the pandemic, and contributed a set of twelve arias for a cycle titled Cura Personalis, commissioned by Loyola University's Opera Workshop.
Lewis's recordings for Louisiana Red Hot Records have featured New Orleans favorites including Kirk Joseph, Glen David Andrews, Roland Guerin, James Andrews, and Erica Falls. She has performed for the Kennedy Center's Arts Across America series, sung "My American Heart" for a voters' rights benefit where Broadway star Mandy Patinkin compared her voice to "the color of light," and joined WWOZ's Piano Night benefit alongside Jon Batiste and Ivan Neville. Lewis has since performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and Mountain Stage, and received a "Spirit of Folk" award from Folk Alliance International for her public health advocacy and her work advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in folk, Americana, and country music. As a soloist, she holds a regular Tuesday and Wednesday Happy Hour residency at Chickie Wah Wah, New Orleans' premier listening room.
