Elizabeth Butler
Houston, Texas, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1999 | INDIE
Music
Press
"Time Before, Time After" was named as a Top 20 finalist in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition. - International Songwriting Competition
"Time Before, Time After" was named as a Top 20 finalist in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition. - International Songwriting Competition
Running Home
"From Soccer Moms ... to Singers & Songwriters"
(Suzanne Comeaux Bucher & Elizabeth Butler)
From soccer moms to songwriter/singers
Suzanne & Elizabeth met each other 12 years ago as church musicians in their church. Their common love for music of all styles and genres brought them together and they began writing and singing songs together.
Suzanne, a native of Port Arthur, Texas who says she is the social butterfly of the two, plays the piano and does lead and background vocals. She has also written or co-written some of the songs they sing. A soccer mom and a Marine corps mom she is kept busy with family, church choir, cross stitching and cake decorating to name a few of her activities and talents.
Elizabeth is a native of Savannah, GA but has lived in Texas for the last 15 years. She plays acoustic rhythm guitar and also does lead and background vocals and has written or co-written some of their songs. The quieter one of the two – so she says – spends most of her time with her 3 kid’s school activities, and running. To date she has run 4 marathons and 2 triathlons.
Their music has a haunting evocative sound, with lyrics that have you thinking. Songs such as Man of Cloth, Wait upon the Lord and She’ll Soar will leave you with a multitude of feelings as the words play on your emotions and the music holds you until the end of each song.
Their first CD which you can listen to in www.cdbaby.com/cd/runninghome or their own website www.runninghome.com was started in 1999 and completed in 2006 in their own record studio, Running Home Records. The say ‘Well, we’re moms, and we’re bossy, so we started our own label. The demands of family life, church musicianship and our jobs didn’t fit with the stereotype labels, so our own Indie Label seemed to be the best way to compromise all the demands on our lives and still be able to be performing songwriters.’
“Each songs stands alone, yet comes together to flow in the album which gives a sense of peace and love, life and energy. I can feel subtle spirituality in every song.” This is one of the fabulous reviews their CD has had since being distributed.
Inspiration from life, friends and family has been the birth of many of their songs, many of them written as an affirmation of their strong Christian faith. Seeing their songs that they write come to life and become actual pieces of music such as ‘Hero’ which was written by Elizabeth about Suzanne’s dad for her father on Father’s Day the year before he passed on re-affirms their amazing musical talents.
“Enjoy the ride and don’t lose who you are’ they tell the readers. “Don’t think you CAN”T do it, because you CAN. Stay balanced with family, faith and friends. Believe in yourself and your music.”
To Suzanne and Elizabeth we at IndieIslands wish them all success in their future endeavours.
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- Indie Islands
Elizabeth Butler and Suzanne Comeaux Bucher make up Running Home. They met in their church choir and have diverse influences on their music: Verdi, Mozart, Aaron Copland,Django Reinhardt, The Allman Brothers Band, and Led Zeppelin.Suzanne is from Texas and Elizabeth hails from Georgia. Their sound, especially with their deep voices, reminds me of the Judds…but better. They bill themselves as Americana, probably to find some way of covering all the styles of music they do.
“Find Your Freedom” has an especially Southern, bluesy sound. “He’s Alive” is Contemporary Gospel. “I Can’t Stop Thinking of You” is a New Age kind of instrumental. There is some very intense orchestration backing up most of their songs.
For more information, click on http://www.runninghomerecords.com/ .
- Southern Fried Magazine
In her debut solo release, Elizabeth Butler displays a driving diversity in a trek through twelve tracks...down a highway of human emotions. "Elizabeth has a strong set of musical skills...and then encourages her musical partners to add their own personal touch. It's an empowering collaboration." -Solveig Whittle
(LEAGUE CITY, TEXAS ) August 14, 2014 - At the crossroads where folk, Americana and country music collide, you'll find Texas-based singer-songwriter Elizabeth Butler. She is in the driver's seat in her debut solo release, Love & Loss & Stuff Like That. Each of the twelve tracks on the album stand as emotive billboards. They whiz by on a musical freeway -scattered with stories of the human experience. Elizabeth point out, "Our lives are all intertwined with threads of joy and loss, heartbreak and renewal. I wanted this album to represent those highs and lows." The first of several key tracks on Love & Loss & Stuff Like That is the first song, "A1A (Settin' Myself Free)". The empowering, turn-up track sets the pace for the album as it leads the listener down Florida's scenic Atlantic route. Butler shifts into a lower gear on a more intimate , "Love Over Logic". With a vivacity, she then puts the petal to the metal in the addictive country tune, "Walk On".
There is a carload of indie talent on this road trip that hits seamlessly on all cylinders. Elizabeth worked long-distance via the internet with Seattle's pop-folk duo Solveig & Stevie on "Light The Fire", which is a bonus track on Elizabeth's CD, as well as on the forthcoming album by Solveig & Stevie, Fire and Other Playthings. - Music Talkers
Discography
Running Home: (with Running Home)
tracks currently receiving airplay: "If I Knew", "Find Your Freedom", "Wait Upon The Lord", "She",
Love & Loss & Stuff Like That: released 2014. Songs currently receiving airplay: "Time Before, Time After remix featuring Solveig Whittle"," A1A (Settin' Myself Free)", "Love Over Logic".
Photos
Bio
It takes a brave approach to be both
cutting edge and patient in the music business, and Elizabeth Butler has both
qualities in spades. After the critically acclaimed release of “Love
& Loss & Stuff Like That,” her 2014 full length album, Butler is now taking
a different approach to releasing new music. “Lullaby,” released July 22,
2016, will be the first single in a series of releases over the next year.
“I want to stay more visible with projects coming out more regularly
instead of the typical several year album cycle,” she explains. “Lullaby”
marks the first release of an unbundled album project, a series of singles she
is writing and recording one at a time.
“Lullaby” was written with Butler’s own children in mind, even though they are
grown and living their own lives. She was inspired by thinking back to the days
of late night floor-pacing with fussy babies. She started singing to them to
try and calm them down, and in those moments she couldn’t avoid “the things you
think about in the middle night with a fretful baby in your arms...what will
they be when they grow up? What kind of people will they be? But I
learned to enjoy the moment, to sing to them so they know someone is there.”
“Raising children to be strong, independent, moral and kind adults is the most
important legacy I have,” Butler says. “We can have so many jobs and goals in
life - to be Grammy winners, Nobel laureates, anything...but we are the only
parents our kids will ever have. That’s important.”
Butler also shines at leveraging the advantages of technology to record while
keeping her projects very personal and organic. She hand-picked her
favorite musicians to perform on Lullaby, and time, space, and distance weren’t
hindrances. All told, Lullaby was recorded in Nashville, Austin, Seattle,
and Houston. Jordan Buetow (from the band Erwilian) played dulcimer in Seattle,
Kira Small recorded backing vocals in Nashville, Jana Pochop laid down acoustic
guitar in Austin, Solveig Whittle sang harmonies from Seattle, and Torri Baker
sang her harmonies from Austin. The track was produced by Butler and Troy
Warren in Houston.
Butler released her first solo album, Love & Loss & Stuff Like That, in
early 2014. She describes the album as a scrapbook concept, as if the
listener is taking pieces of an artist's journal and absorbing a life story in
frames and vignettes. Part of the draw of the recording process for
Butler harkens back to those days in her bedroom as a teenager, enveloped in
liner notes and absorbing songs through endless listens on the stereo.
Butler describes her style as a “cool gumbo of sound,” and the listener can
easily pick out country, pop, jazz, and blues influences amidst an undeniably
unique sound that is steeped in years of practice and stacks of vinyl.
She co-produced Love and Loss and Stuff Like That with Troy Warren, Jr., a
multi-instrumentalist who back-and-forths with Butler on everything from
instrumentation to arrangement.
Butler plans to release songs periodically throughout the next year, culling
inspiration from an array of styles and genres. The spellbound kid
sitting in front of the stereo is now at the helm of her own music-making, and
the results are bound to be as deep and dynamic as her roots.
Band Members
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