Profile - Lizz Wright

Hahira, Ga.-native and former Atlanta resident Lizz Wright has been winning fans worldwide since 2003 with her introspective lyrics and jazz-tinged vocal stylings. She returns to the ATL on Fri., Sept. 16, to perform tunes from her new album, Dreaming Wide Awake, at the Variety Playhouse.

Dreaming sports a bluesier sound than her debut CD, Salt. Producer Craig Street played a big role in helping her make the musical shift. "This record really comes more from the conversations that Craig and I had," says Wright. "We would meet up to talk over and over. Craig encouraged me to set myself free to make the record that was inside of me."

Although she possesses a honey-coated voice, Wright claims that, these days, she listens mostly to instrumental music. "I'm tired of words and really narrow meaning."

In 2003, Wright moved from Atlanta to New York City, but she eventually left the hectic Big Apple and settled in Seattle. "I used to love New York because coming from Georgia I felt like a stone in the river: I was real still and loved watching all this commotion around me," she says. "But living there, I couldn't rest. I didn't want to go home, but I definitely had to find the woods again."

A self-described tea fanatic, Wright used to stock her pantry with more than 75 different flavors of tea; currently she's down to only 30 tea types. She also collects soaps and incense. "I collect stuff that goes away."

"I'm a gadget girl," says Wright, defying her "earthy" persona. "As soon as I got a Mac, I just went nuts. I do everything with it," she says. "It actually makes my life quite peaceful."