By | D. BEALL She’s not guzzling whiskey, she’s not breaking hearts just yet, it’s too early in the day. Good lookin’ blonde country punk Lydia Loveless is at home in Columbus reading her paper and drinking coffee and talking to Buzzbin Magazine. Her name alone conjures up thoughts of Lyle Lovett, Loretta Lynn, Lydia Lunch, and Deep Throat’s very own Linda Lovelace (“That’s a common mistake,” she laughs). When I listen to her sound, that combination is a pretty great way to describe it. Her debut album, The Only Man, boasts songs about drinking, lost love and shooting her father and it’s a kickass country music record; the good country, not the God-Bless-Pat-Robertson-and-my-dog country. More Hank Williams Sr. than Billy Ray Cyrus. Loveless shares the stage with Ben Lamb (upright bass), Rob Woodruff (banjo), Todd May (lead guitar) and Parker (drums) and they’re all coming to Annabell’s on November 12^th. I talked to her a little about who she is, what drives her, so on and so forth, you know the drill. She grew up on a farm in Ohio, Coschocton to be precise. “That definitely shaped the whole country music thing. My mom was into country, my dad really liked New Wave and pop. When I was a kid my mom would listen to country music and I would make fun of it, and then I started liking it as I got older, which is what usually happens, you make fun of your parent’s music and then you start liking it. I made fun of Patsy Cline, so that was pretty stupid”, she laughs. “I went to Columbus when I was 14 and started going to this place called Bernie’s, (a cool punk bar at the time). It caused me to meet a lot of older people- I got into punk, had a lot of older friends and older boyfriends. I guess that shaped the ‘attitude’ aspect of my music (she says with quotations). And Columbus has been great; it’s really supportive of its own music scene.” Her lyrics can be controversial to those that come to the bar expecting a little Kenny Chesney. “I have a song called ‘Jesus Was a Wino’ that made like three people just get up and leave the bar. For some reason when you play these redneck bars there’s always gonna be someone that wants you to play Johnny Cash- that’s  annoying.  There are people like ‘you’re a woman, play some Fleetwood Mac.’” She uses her best redneck voice on that last part. “They have their little weird hangups about women and country music and what they think you should be playing.” It’s an all male backup band but Loveless explains it ain’t no thing. “Well, my drummer is my dad, my guitarist is a really good friend of mine and the bass player is my fiancé. It’s cool to have people that you’re close to in the band but it can get weird out on tour.” So what’s it like having your dad in your band? It’s not bad, she says, you just got to kind of get over that juvenile embarrassment (that we all have). She chuckles. “When you’re trying to chat up a guy or something and your dad comes out and puts his arm around you like ‘great show honey’.” C’est la vie, especially in the country music world where brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers often sacrifice potential embarrassment for love of family, friends and music. Her album, The Only Man, took her three years to complete due to “people flaking and not as interested as I was”. Buzzbin reviewed the album in August and we loved it. It’s partly her sweet voice that isn’t too hillbilly and the fresh, often tougher, take on the themes of the road weary classics- Cash, Cline, Williams Sr., etc.  I wonder what she would recommend for the first time listener. “I’m glad you asked that because a lot of people just write about “Girls Suck” which is probably my least favorite song on the album. I would say “Paid”. It’s about talking to some guy at a bar who thinks he’s going to get into your pants, who thinks you’re somebody different because he’s listened to your songs and thinks ‘why aren’t you a huge slut’? I was thinking, why don’t I get paid to do this, so I wrote it about that.” It wouldn’t be country without the booze, so what does Lydia Loveless like to drink? “Bourbon, Wild Turkey. I’m a huge wino.” She loves her Carlo Rossi. “In the summer, I drink the Paisano. It’s very comforting.  And I’m in love.” With whiskey, wine and time cometh wisdom, as the wizened Lydia tells me when I ask her about her philosophy on being a musician.  “It sounds f*cking cheesy, but stay true to yourself. When I was making my album there was this large group of older guys telling me I needed to make my voice sound like this or do that.  Or as you get older you get record labels telling you that you need to act a certain way; you can’t shave your head anymore because you’re an old fashioned country singer. I just think people are going to like you if they like you, and the people that want you to change don’t like you, so you need to sing about whatever you want to sing, say ‘f*ck’ and ‘shit’ in every song if you want to. There are people out there who will like it.” Throw her some bourbon November 12^th at Annabell’s.