Billie and Andy Bliss at home. Photographs by Terry Rayment.
Local musician Billie Bliss has moved north in Mich. to Traverse City and this self-proclaimed “small town” girl is finding inspirations through new sources. She is one of the many emerging singer-songwriters who are echoing the soulful sentiments of the sixties through her art. There seems to be a renewed interest in the fundamentals of music and the pure expression of feeling lost on listeners in the recent decades. Playing folk music with her husband and guitarist, Andy Bliss, Billie cites this union as "wonderful and honest." Her husband who also plays the mandolin, is one half of a pair of sensitive souls echoing the artistic give and take of lovers James Taylor and Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash, but with an apparent ease not often seen in the music realm.
“I don’t think there is a stronger bond you can feel with someone than when you are playing music with them…it is our best form of communication,” says Bliss.
Bliss’ powerful piece titled Alice, is a take on the Lewis Carroll character. She sings, “help me from falling into dark black holes,” with a voice of a much older and wiser woman, not a doe-eyed 24 year-old with the unassuming presence. This haunting piece is not the only literary inspiration in Billie’s repertoire. She cites Sylvia Plath and Irvine Welsh as great influences, as well as the seasons, and her womb. “I have written my fair share of woe is me songs while I was in fact in a great mood,” says Billie who fittingly longs to learn to play the evocative cello.
Her wise beyond her years understanding of what truly matters is further evident by her commitment to her equally young lover through marriage and close bonds with family, friends, and relatives. While the rest of the world is spinning into the material, Billie seems to balance her Internet searching via her phone with a natural and organic way of being, that almost seems simply a part of history and no longer the norm. This singer-songwriter has an apparent understanding of the real essentials of life and hopefully her music relays the lost message to the masses in the near future. We aren’t bound to outside influence. Bliss’ body is adorned with the Nietzsche quote, “Without music, life is a mistake.” The strongest message her persona and music emanates is that we are essentially here to love and music just may be the quickest vehicle.
