Lizz Wright Covers Neil Young, Live in Berlin

Soul and gospel are at the root of Lizz Wright’s artistry, though she first gained acclaim singing Billy Holiday songs and has become a kind of curator of an alternative Great American Songbook. Her repertoire might run from Bob Dylan to Ray Charles to contemporary groups like the duo Birds of Chicago. Holding Space is her latest album, a live concert she did with her band in Berlin in 2018 and which she rediscovered while locked down during the first year of the pandemic. It’s a typically wide-ranging set, with Allen Toussaint’s “Southern Nights” next to the old gospel classic “Walk With Me Lord.” A highlight is Wright’s slow-burning, inexorably building version of Neil Young’s “Old Man.” The band bursts into the foreground about halfway through, before eventually subsiding and allowing Wright’s smoldering vocals to let us down easy.

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Watch 'Holding Space,' a short film about Lizz Wright's new live album

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Watch 'Holding Space,' a short film about Lizz Wright's new live album