Singer and songwriter Jodee Lewis will perform on the Coffeyville Community College campus on Tuesday, March 6, as part of the CCC Humanities Project. The public is invited to the 10:30 a.m. Tuesday humanities performances at CCC.  The performances are free and held in the Spencer/Rounds Performing Arts Theatre.

A native of the Missouri Ozarks, Lewis was raised on folk songs and honky-tonk, and her music reflects the best of both worlds. The Chicago Tribune says she is “a singer-songwriter whose outsized talent is as big as her voice,” and calls her first album, Whiskey Halo, an “impressive solo debut”.

In 2015, her single from the album, In The End, was chosen as the first place winner in the 16th annual Great American Songwriting Contest. Additionally, at the 14th annual Independent Music Awards (IMAs), Whiskey Halo was chosen as country album of the year, and the single, From A Bottle, took top honors as country song of the year. From A Bottle also took runner-up in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards (IAMA) in the country category. Her second album, Buzzards Bluff, is planned for release in early 2018.

Lewis trained in classical piano and began playing guitar and writing music after moving to Chicago in 1999 with her husband, Chad. Growing up in a small town, Lewis sang in her church gospel choir and with her grandfather’s country band, eventually attending Washington University in St. Louis to study Chemical Engineering. After a career with companies such as Monsanto and Clorox, Lewis decided to focus on music and raising her three children in the big city.

She explores the themes of loss, heartache, and ultimately, finding hope and beauty during moments of challenge. Considered a true storyteller, Lewis uses music to connect with listeners through shared emotion and honesty. The Chicago Tribune says “With her gentle twang and crystalline soprano, she invests her songs with a palpable ache that recalls country thrush Lee Ann Womack”.

For more information about the humanities project at CCC, please call 620-251-7700, ext. 2166.