A multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and more recently, mother, Lillie Mae Rische has been playing music and performing from the age of three. Her career started as a member of her family band alongside brother Frank and sisters Scarlett, Amber Dawn, and McKenna Grace, but Lille Mae soon established herself as one of the most talented fiddle players in Nashville. Recognising her talent, Jack White invited her to his Third Man Record studio, where she contributed to a number of soundtracks he was undertaking. That relationship led to Lillie Mae playing on three of White’s solo albums and being a member of his touring bands. She recorded her first solo album, RAIN ON THE PIANO in 2015 and followed that with two albums on the Third Man Record label, FOREVER AND THEN SOME (2017) and OTHER GIRLS (2019), both of which charted in the US Country and Heat charts. Her most recent record, FESTIVAL EYES, is due for release on 8th September. Lillie Mae is also currently a member, alongside her husband Craig Smith and brother Frank Rische, of Jim Lauderdale’s band The Game Changers.
Firstly, congratulations on the birth of your daughter. You were heavily pregnant the last time I saw you on stage with Jim Lauderdale. How is motherhood treating you?
It couldn’t be better; my daughter Aberdeen is ten months old now. I’ve been so lucky with the help from my sister and my mom to be still able to play gigs.
I recall seeing you play in Dublin over ten years ago as part of Jim White’s band and also appearing on The Jools Holland Show at that time. What are your recollections of those times as a very young artist?
I had such a great time working on the road back then, it was such a weird time and I was so young. Touring with Jack White was such a unique thing to be part of. Travis Stevens, who is now Lucinda Williams’ tour manager was the first person that told me about the Jools Holland Show. He used to watch every episode.
Unlike many of your peers who headed to Nashville after college to find their way in the music industry, you’ve been part of it since childhood. Do you ever think what life would be like away from music?
It’s not an easy business to be in and it’s unfortunate that the business aspect is such a big part of it. As an artist when you’re writing a song you shouldn’t have to think about the business end of things, like album sales. You might be creating something that you think is larger than life and you’re not thinking about anything else, but what it boils down to is more about the business than the product that you’re investing in. There have been moments when I’m thinking ‘why am I doing this.’ But I’ve been doing this for so long, practice, get in the van, roll, play, we know how to do that and put the show on. Sure, when things get crazy you think of other things, maybe do some farming or live simpler but whether I like it or not, I’ll be doing this forever.
You were touring and performing in the family band from childhood. Did you ever resent that lifestyle?
No, I was always chomping at the bit. After my dad left town and the band when I was eleven, playing with my brother and sisters was all I ever wanted to do. There was never a moment when I was unhappy.
Do you still perform as The Rische Family band alongside your other projects?
We still play together but it’s an ever-changing thing. We haven’t made a Rische family album for a long time but we still play gigs. My sister McKenna Grace is an unbelievable artist, singer and songwriter, and my other sister Amber, Grace and I often play together, sometimes with my brother Frank, too. My husband Craig (Smith) also plays with us, we play every Saturday when we’re not out of town.
How did the Jack White connection come about?
I started working at Third Man when I was nineteen. Jack was looking for a fiddle player and a mandolin player, and my buddy Joshua Smith, who is an engineer at Third Man, called us. He got our numbers from Joshua Hedley and he called me and my sister Scarlett in to do some recording. We did our first sessions over there at Third Man playing on soundtracks. The Lone Ranger soundtrack, which Jack composed for Disney, was the first thing that we did. They kept calling for me to work on several other things after that and one thing led to another.
Your latest album is FESTIVAL EYES. Where did that title come from?
The album title track was written during covid, and I wrote it on the piano which I don’t often do. We were having a discussion about playing festivals during the summer season and how there’s no grosser feeling than when you’re hot and it’s one hundred and twenty degrees out. That’s where the idea for the title came but also in multiple ways it also came from the shiny and sparkly excitement of playing festivals at a time when no festivals were happening. We were all missing that and thinking about what fun it is to get to play them.
Your cover of Neil Young’s Razor Love is stunning, as is the YouTube video of the song.
Thank you. We were going to do a live video for each song on the album but reckoned that we couldn’t do eight videos in one day and also that they all would visually be the same. We did that video for Razor Love in my sister’s house. A guy that lives three houses down the street and someone that I’ve known for a long time, his name is Jace Kartye, he did the video for us.
There is a connection between that song and your Mom. I understand that her maiden name is Razor.
That was actually just a coincidence, the song was something that the producer Beau Bedford brought to the table. I hadn’t actually heard the song before but because mom is a Razor and the song is Razor Love, I thought ‘well that’s cool.’
You recorded this album in Dallas rather than Nashville.
Yes, we did the project in Dallas, where Beau Bedford is based. We were on a tour for a few weeks and it ended in Texas. I had met Beau long before that and agreed to work together at some stage and since our last show was close to Dallas we thought it was a good opportunity to record there. There are eight songs on the album and we did the first batch of five songs in one day and finished the others in another two days. We came back to Nashville and ended up going back to Dallas for one more session. We did some more vocals late in Nashville at Creative Workshop when Beau was in town here.
Who played on the recordings?
My sister Scarlett, brother Frank and husband Craig were there. The rhythm section was my buddy Aaron Goodrich who was on my tour on drums, our friend Geoffry Muller was on bass and then our long-time bass player Brian Zonn played the second time we went back to Dallas.
My favourite song on the album is Love Is. The vocal harmonies are stunning.
That’s my favourite track, too. It’s hard for me not to do harmonies, that’s my favourite style of recording. On this project, I didn’t want to do what I did in the past by singing the harmony vocals myself, because it never gets recreated live, or at least until I could afford to have another singer or two on stage with me. We’re not quite there yet.
You open the album with Cold June. Surely there aren’t cold Junes in Nashville?
There aren’t too many but there was that year. Nashville weather can be funny.
Where does the writing for your songs come from?
The songs come from everywhere, sometimes in the middle of the night. I’m always jotting things down and taking notes on my phone. I was kicking myself the other day; it happens so many times that some idea comes to you and you don’t jot it down. I had a good one the other morning before I was up and I missed it. I’ve also been co-writing a bit lately and I had one of my favourite co-writes the other day with a woman named Grace Adele, who I have known for a long time. She has a band with her husband called The Farmer and Adel. The idea was that the song would be about the music industry but the song ended up being about a guitar, which was cool.
Are you more comfortable out front leading your band or playing in Jim Lauderdale’s band, The Game Changers?
It all just goes hand in hand. One of my favourite things to do all my life is to sing harmony. Getting to do that and playing in Jim’s band has been one of the great pleasures in my life. The band The Game Changers with Jim is unbelievable. Craig and Frank on guitar together are amazing and Jay Weaver on bass, who’s been with Jim a long time and has also produced his last few albums. He’s the best bass player on the planet. The whole band is just so tight and it’s a great honour to get to play with such great musicians. We are just back from California where one night I played and sang in Jim’s band but also got to do my own set beforehand. The next night we did some songs that we’ve been working on with Jim where my brother Frank, Craig and I sing the songs, which was such fun.
Fashion has played a major part in the music industry forever. You and your family have always had a very individualistic style.
I am becoming more and more aware these days of fast fashion, which is changing the game. I’m really conscious these days and aware of clothes that are eco-made. Otherwise, you just get rid of a gigantic amount of what you have shopped for. We’re actually setting up a sewing room at my sister’s house where we can create our own pieces because fashion has always been a big interest for us.
You’re heading to Europe with The Game Changers shortly.
Yes. I haven’t been over there since long before the pandemic, so we’re long overdue to get over there. I’m really grateful to get back there although it will be really hard to leave the little one for two weeks. She’s going with my sister and my mom to Canada to visit my other sister and her twin cousins so she gets to use her passport for the first time.
Interview by Declan Culliton