Lillie Mae cuts a rebellious figure in her thrift store duds and tattoos that include an image of Waylon Jennings’ “Flying W” logo. She rocks a mohawk that makes her a near-doppelganger of Annabella Lwin, frontwoman of the 1980s new wave band Bow Wow Wow. But the alt-country singer-songwriter says that the punk rock hairstyle is purely accidental.
“I’m not rebelling against anything or trying to make a statement,” Lillie Mae says with a laugh. “I cut my hair myself and accidentally cut some bald patches in it. I covered my head with a bandana for a couple of weeks. Then my sister saw the haircut. She said, ‘Dude, you cannot go out in public like that. We have to shave it.’ That’s how I ended up with a mohawk.”
Lillie Mae’s down-to-earth, homespun attitude is a disarming contrast to the hipster buzz that surrounds her. This past spring, she released her solo debut album Forever and Then Some on Jack White’s Third Man Records. With a voice that recalls the aching sopranos of Dolly Parton and Lee Ann Womack, she’s also a gifted fiddler and guitarist equally at home laying down country-rockers, infectious shuffles and bluegrass-tinged folk-rock.
Her musical heroes include a list of heritage and contemporary artists. “I go through phases,” she says. “Growing up it was Patsy Cline. Me and my siblings listened to all of Alison Krauss’ first albums. I also love Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, gypsy jazz and Lucinda Williams. The outlaws are definitely an influence. Waylon Jennings is my biggest hero. I got Waylon’s Flying W [logo] tattooed on my shoulder ages ago.”
She was born Lillie Mae Rische into a musical family in Woodbine, in northwest Illinois. Her siblings are brother Frank and sisters Scarlett, Amber Dawn and McKenna Grace. Her musician father Forrest Carter Rische taught all five of his children to sing, play instruments and perform in his family country band. Lillie Mae began singing on stage at 3 and playing fiddle at 7.
She has been on the road for as long as she can remember. “We lived and toured in an old 1970s Winnebago, and my dad spent the majority of his time underneath it on the side of the road,” she says with a laugh.
For a time, the band lived and worked in Branson. They then set out for Texas, where they made a living playing the RV park circuit.
“We’d drive to a park, play the rec hall and pass the hat,” she recalls. “You play for a love offering. It’s an amazing place to start. It’s a huge community and everyone is so supportive and encouraging.”
Other career possibilities never occurred to her.
“There was never any idea to do anything else,” she says. “The band made 100 percent of the family income, so we could never stop.”
The family moved to Nashville, Tenn., in 2000. Her parents split up, and her dad left when she was 11. Four of the five siblings continued to play together as a band.
Her sister Scarlett landed a solo gig downtown at the funky old-school honky-tonk Layla’s Bluegrass Inn and parlayed that into a regular gig for the sibling band. Within a year, the group was playing six days a week. They went through a slew of band names, including Silk and Saddle (“We could never find a name to stick with”) before settling on Jypsi.
Lillie Mae was 12 when Jypsi was offered a deal with Sony. Two years later, the band made it official with the label and signed a contract. The arrangement lasted six years and produced Jypsi’s self-titled debut. They managed to score a Top 40 country hit, but the band never lived up to sales expectations.
Although the experience enabled Lillie Mae to make lots of industry contacts and paid for dental work, the siblings weren’t happy with the music they were recording. Her brother quit the group and the band was eventually dropped from the label.
“It worked out for the best,” Lillie Mae says. “We were so done.”
After years of making music and touring with a tight-knit core of family members, Lillie Mae struck out on her own for the first time in her life. She played solo gigs at Layla’s, jammed with different players and moved to Alabama for a time to be with a boyfriend.
There was a period of transition between leaving the comfort zone of her family band and forging a path alone. A new direction came when she and Scarlett caught a lucky break and were invited to play fiddle and mandolin, respectively, on some studio dates for White’s 2012 Blunderbuss album.
“It was really cool doing those sessions,” Lillie Mae says.
She and White hit it off as friends and collaborators, and he eventually asked her to join his tour. Lillie Mae agreed and went on the road playing fiddle and singing in his backing band. White eventually encouraged her to record her songs, signed her to his label and produced her debut album.
“I’m comfortable enough to be myself with Jack,” she says. “I need to be 100 percent comfortable to get out the best product. I’m not the kind of person who just marches in and says, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’ Jack and I work really well together. He encourages me.”
He gave Lillie Mae plenty of space to follow her muse. When it comes to her life and career, the title of one of her songs could serve as a mission statement — “Dance to the Beat of My Own Drum.”
“I try to live as truthfully as possible,” says the girl with the Flying W tattoo. “I’m just myself.”