Lissie Lays Down Guidelines for the 'Good Life' on Debut Album

Good things come to those who wait, and Lissie has been waiting for a long time to get her debut album, 'Catching a Tiger,' released in the US. The title of the LP, which is a line from the standout track 'Bully,' reflects how the folk/country/rock singer-songwriter has gone about realizing her goals: on her own terms.

After recording much of the album in Nashville with producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits), Lissie returned to L.A. where she'd lived for five years. After getting out of a relationship and suffering a "personal crisis," she moved on a whim to Ojai, Calif., without ever visiting the town or the house where she currently lives. During a visit by Band of Horses bassist Bill Reynolds, who produced her acclaimed 2009 EP 'Why You Runnin',' things began to look up for her.

"We just started to work on songs and he played the four chords of 'Bully' over and over again. In five minutes I had all the words written," the Illinois native tells Spinner. "It was almost like that song was me talking to a younger version of myself saying, 'These are the guidelines for like living a good life, realizing all the people that love you and that everything's going to be fine. Reach for things but don't push them away because you reached too hard.'"

"It's about trying to force these things that are difficult and being hard on yourself, you can't do it," she adds. "As an overall title, I thought it was good because trying to get your hands around something slippery. It conjures up an image in someone's head and they can apply it to whatever their tiger is."

Just before the album's release, Lissie also found an interesting coincidence in an unlikely place. "Last night, on an airplane, I was reading in Delta's magazine that it's the year of the tiger," she says. "It's funny because I never would have thought of that, so it sort of seems like this is sort of my year, the year of catching that tiger."

'Catching a Tiger' is out now in the US via Fat Possum Records and in the UK via Columbia. After performing across Europe in September, Lissie will return to the States on Oct. 6 in San Francisco to begin a string of dates across the country that concludes Oct. 23 in Boston.