Lizzie No brings intimate folk to the Englert

Lizzie No couldn't help but say yes to a career in music. While working at a Stanford research lab, No enjoyed a secure gig a decade ago.

"I enjoyed what I was doing," No said while calling from her Nashville home. "While I was at the lab, it gave me perspective on things as I worked on massive piles of information about voter behavior. I was working on a coding project about attitudes toward the birther movement."

However, the Stanford alum was compelled to write tunes, even while coding. "As I was working, songs were invading my brain," No said. "I was just compelled to write songs."

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No, who will perform Friday at the Englert Theatre, has followed her muse. She left the Northern California laboratory for the uncertain world in Music City, where she has no ceiling or floor. "Living this type of life, you sometimes wonder where the groceries are going to come from," No said. "But I'm doing what I need to do."

It's hardly a surprise that No became a musician. While growing up in tony Princeton, New Jersey, music was constantly played, and No's parents loved the arts and encouraged their daughter's creative endeavors.

No, 34, came of age playing the violin and harp and wrote songs as a pre-pubescent. However, No didn't pick up a guitar until 2016. "The reason I finally got around to playing the guitar was because I won the American Songwriter Lyric Contest in 2016," No said. "The prize was this gorgeous guitar. When I won, I received a brand new Gibson guitar. I thought, 'I have to learn how to play this instrument.’"

It didn't take long for No to understand the subtleties of playing guitar since she always loved stringed instruments. "I'm all about the strings since I first started playing violin when I was 3 years old and harp when I was 10," No said. "Those instruments have had a huge impact on my life."

The daughter of a church organist earned raves for her debut album, 2017's "Hard Won." The follow-up, 2019's "Vanity," scored college radio play and cracked the North American College and Community Top Adds Chart.

The nine songs from "Vanity" are epic tales of ego, featuring narrative shifts within vividly crafted characters. The range of protagonists runs from a handsome playboy in "Narcissus" to a down on her luck songwriter hoping for her big break in "Pity Party" to a bigger and isolated rocker on "Loyalty."

"Halfsies," No's latest album, is an uncompromising and inventive release that showcases her talents as a harp playing singer-songwriter. "Halfsies" is an eclectic, moving album that is emotional and atmospheric.

"I wanted to have chaos and blankness side by side throughout 'Halfsies,'" No said. "I thought that would be effective."

Soothing strings are followed by cacophony. It's surprising and compelling. The bottom line is that it works for No.

"I look at this album like a Jackson Pollock painting," No said. "There is no transition from chaos and silence."

No claims that noise and quiet live hand in hand in her complex mind. "I want to show people what it's like inside my brain," No said. "This is where I am due to PTSD."

The trauma for the Bronx native emanates from everyday life. "It comes from the experience of being a Black woman," No said. "We are discriminated against, assaulted and underpaid. Black women have to protect ourselves in a very challenging world."

No works out the trauma through music. That's the way it's been since she was a child and her life changed after experiencing the late icon Aretha Franklin belt out her legendary songs.

"Aretha was the first recording artist I knew by name," No said. "She was amazing. Then I got into folk. I loved the Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman and Ani DiFranco. They are women who speak about the world, and they deliver messages with honesty. I have so much respect for those recording artists."

No admits there are times she thinks about going back to the laboratory and the security that comes from that consistent paycheck.

"It is tempting," No said. "However, I really can't imagine returning to that existence since I've doubled down so much on this creative life. It would be hard to pivot back to that world. I want to remain doing what I'm doing in this artistic life. It's hard being a musician, but it would be harder to start a new profession."

No is thankful for her parents since she never would have become a musician if it weren't for the support from her mother and father. "This all started because of my parents, because they thought at an early age that stringed instruments would be good for brain development," No said. "Those stringed instruments and music have become my life."

The shows delivered by No are always upbeat and hopeful. "I think that's the way it should be," No said. "Going to a concert shouldn't be like going to a sermon. Going to a show should be a full bodied experience that is fun."