Liz Chidester is a critically acclaimed and award winning singer/songwriter, actor, and teaching artist.
Originally from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Liz has been a prolific Americana songwriter based mainly in Chicago for most of her career. Her solo releases include People Pumping Pedals (2014) Otter Hill (2015), otherside of the darkest timeline (2021), “Sun Sup” “The Gift That Moved You” (2021) and “People Pumping Pedals (A Decade Down the Line)” (2023). With her band, LIZ AND THE LOVELIES, she released Progress Into Simplicity (2017), “My Way/Your Way” “Sleep In” (2018) “great american chestnut tree” (2020). She won NPR’s NewSong Songwriting Contest 2014 – Midwestern Finalist, Chicago Music Awards 2015 – Best Female Vocalist, NewSong Leaf Songwriter Competition 2016 – Finalist, Independent Music Awards 2018 – Best Roots EP. Her song “the great american chestnut” was featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered in 2020. She is currently working on a new ‘Latin Americana’ project LIZ & NILKO in NYC with her partner Colombian classical guitarist Nilko Andreas. She is a Voting Member of the Recording Academy and the Folk Alliance International.
Liz is a Jeff Award winning and critically acclaimed actor, called “one of the most truthful actors in this city” by the Chicago Tribune. She is a Company Member of the first feminist equity musical theatre company Firebrand Theatre, and an Artistic Associate of American Blues Theatre. She has worked as an actor, collaborator, and composer with PigPen Theatre Co, Chicago Children’s Theatre, and the puppet theatre Cabinet of Curiosity. She is an Equity member of AEA.
Liz has taught private and group classes in ‘ukulele, voice, piano, guitar, and songwriting with Midori & Friends, Arts Ignite, and Little Chopins in NYC and was a Teaching Artist at the historic Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago for almost a decade. An advocate of the ‘ukulele, she teaches ‘ukulele retreats with the Wonderstruck Ukulele Academy out of Kansas City, MO. She is a proud graduate of James Madison University School of Music. www.lizandthelovelies.com
