PREMIERE: Lisa De Novo’s ‘Carolina’ an Uplifting Celebration of Home

Lisa De Novo paints indelible images of her adopted home state on her new bluegrass-infused single “Carolina.” The song, which we’re premiering below, is a valentine to a place that shaped the Charlotte singer-songwriter’s life.

The pitch and roll of De Novo’s cantering acoustic guitar suggests a journey through the Carolina hill country as her smoked glass vocals flow like a breeze past your car’s rolled-down window.

“Behind the wheel/ The storm is in my rearview mirror/ The clouds so high/ Take me up into the sky…”

“I was driving right after a storm on the highway,” De Novo recalls of her inspiration to write the song. “When you’re driving, you can’t write down anything, so I hit the record button on my phone and came up with the chorus part.”

As Akima River’s winding fiddle enfolds Alana Flowers Gibson’s plucked, percolating banjo and Glenn Gibson’s pulsing, subliminal bass, the song’s chorus sails in on warm swarming harmonies. 

It’s here that De Novo’s words betray a restlessness to hit the road, a tension between embracing home and hearth and setting out for new adventures.

“Carolina/ I know it’s time to get up and spread my wings/ Carolina/ You’re the only place that feels like home to me…”

Despite the wanderlust her latest song evokes, De Novo says she’s not planning on leaving Charlotte — at least not now.

“[The song] is a tribute to Carolina, but it’s also … a song about feeling ready to move on,” she says. “I don’t know if I’ll move. I really like Charlotte, but I think I’m ready to get back on the road too. [‘Carolina’] is a song where it’s like, ‘I know that you will always be here waiting for me, whenever I get back.’”

An accompanying video for the single featuring bucolic locations that match the song’s imagery will be released in March. She’s already filmed at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont and she’s hoping to “find a few waterfalls” to help complete the visuals. 

Lisa De Novo’s decade of making hometown music

For now, De Novo has plenty of irons in the fire in Charlotte, a city she’s called home for 10 years, nine of which as a professional musician. She’s slated to sing the national anthem before the Charlotte Knights game at Truist Field on April 29. 

On top of that, there’s her regular gig hosting Rock Stars in the Round on the first Wednesday of each month at Goldie’s in South End, where she continues to draw appreciative audiences.

“It’s like a songwriters’ round, but a little bit different,” De Novo says. 

Unlike many songwriter series, electric instruments are encouraged. Three to four performers play their songs onstage and then take requests from the audience for the last hour. De Novo also plays other gigs around town along with giving private music lessons and singing at her church.

After moving from Florida, De Novo first made her mark in the Queen City hosting open mics at venues across town, including Legion Brewing, the since-closed Pour Taproom, Heist Brewery Barrel & Arts, and Temple Mojo in Matthews. She also gigged constantly, playing original music that she describes as bubble-gum blues, a blend of catchy pop and soulful rock ‘n’ roll.

In 2017, the singer-songwriter launched the harder rocking Lisa De Novo Band, composed of De Novo, lead guitarist Zach Willard, bass player Michael Lanigan, and drummer Mitch Moore. In 2018, the band dropped de Novo’s debut album The Big Bang. 

In 2020, COVID put the kibosh on De Novo’s open mics. After experimenting with virtual open mics for about a year, she hit the road, playing anywhere that would take her, from Wilmington to Long Beach, California.

While on the road, De Novo put together her next project, Sunflower Showers. The joyous, jazz-inflected four-track EP boasted a sound quite different from De Novo’s debut LP, but the songs still reflected her graceful melodic songcraft and signature empathetic disposition.

A musical hug

“Carolina” represents another musical sea change for De Novo.

“This song is way different from anything I’ve ever released before,” she says. “The genre is alternative bluegrass/country.

As “Carolina” comes to a close, jaunty percussion clatters by like railroad boxcars while heavenly harmonies coil above. Meanwhile, De Novo sings about the wonders she’s witnessed — both on the road and near her beloved home

“I’ve seen desert storms/ And double rainbows/ I’ve seen rivers flow/ and no one knows what I know…”  

With its emotional heft and uplifting, uncuttered sound, “Carolina” also makes its mark as the first song De Novo has self-produced in her home studio. The singer says she considers producing the next step in her ongoing evolution as an independent artist; it makes sound economic sense, too.

“It’s just so expensive to work with producers that can be very picky when it comes to the right sound and the right vocal takes,” says De Novo. “[Self-production] is just a better option financially.”

It was De Novo’s idea to bring in her friend Alana Flowers Gibson and husband Glenn to play on the track. Getting another friend to contribute was a bittersweet experience, as fiddler Akima River, known for her work with Elonzo Wesley, is planning to move away from Charlotte. 

The sweet sorrow of taking leave of a place you love imbues the song, but it’s not the only emotion that threads through “Carolina.” De Novo also wrote the tune as a tribute to those people in her home state who are still recovering from the ravages wrought by Hurricane Helene.

“I feel like the world needs a song like this, especially after Helene,” De Novo says. “We are still in the rebuilding process but I hope this song brings peace to all who hear it.”

In effect, “Carolina” acts as a big musical embrace, De Novo believes.

“I can’t physically hug [listeners],” she says. “But I hope they feel warm and hopeful.”