rb-2016-Liv Slingerland

When Liv Slingerland lost her beloved father in March 2020, the in-demand guitarist (Halsey, Olivia Rodrigo, Lauren Ruth Ward, Donna Missal) knew what she needed to do immediately: finish her first solo album. It was the least she could do —  a heartfelt homage to her biggest fan.

The only problem? The pandemic, of course, although Slingerland wasn’t about to let a looming national lockdown get in the way of finishing her long overdue debut. Building on the myriad styles she’d mastered over the years — surf rock scorchers, Tom Petty tabs, the blues — and her recent studies in USC’s Popular Music program, Slingerland dove straight into decoding what she didn’t already know, between performing in Olivia Rodrigo’s band on SNL and in her ground-breaking Sour Prom. Mostly necessary evils like tricked-out production and engineering techniques required to drive her artistry forward in a much more self-reliant manner.

The album gave Slingerland an outlet to work through the tensions of navigating her college years and early 20s while coming out as queer. The songs explore themes of her ensuing romantic relationships, family distress, and the loss of her father. It’s only fitting that the record has found a home at the “woman-informed, queer-happy” Righteous Babe Records, the label founded by fellow guitar slinger Ani DiFranco and is coming out this summer while Slingerland is on tour with fellow queer pop artist Halsey.