BETHLEHEM, Pa., — Lilly Moss described how a song comes to her.
“When I write my songs, I'm very secluded," she said. "It always happens at night. I don't want anyone to interrupt my writing process.
"I’m always a music-first person, so whenever I write on the piano, I play out the chords and close my eyes and feel what comes to me.”
At first, Moss, 19, a graduate of Bethlehem's Freedom High School who will enter her sophomore year at Lafayette College this fall, typed the lyrics into her computer.
Then a gift from her mother changed that. It was a teal spiral notebook with an inspirational message on the cover: "The world was hers for the taking."
“And I went completely away from the computer and started handwriting my lyrics in it," Moss said. "When I wrote this title song, I was actually sitting on my floor, not the norm, writing it, singing it through.
"And I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh, this is good, this is good. I just want to finish this song. I had such a good feeling about it.”
'Meet Me on Broadway'
That song is“Meet Me on Broadway,” the title track from Moss's debut country music album, to be released this year.
It’s continuing its rise on music and video streaming platforms since its May 31 release.
“Just two weeks in and the track was already at 25,000 streams and 2,300 playlist adds on Spotify alone!”Moss's manager and mom, Natalee Hercik
"Just two weeks in and the track was already at 25,000 streams and 2.300 playlist adds on Spotify alone," Moss’s manager, and mom, Natalee Hercik said in a text message last month.
“The song’s doing great, I’m doing great, it’s all just very exciting,” Moss said from her home in Bethlehem. “I’m really happy and confident with the way it came out."
In between a summer class, busy live performance schedule, and two part-time restaurant jobs, the budding music artist is doing her best keeping everything balanced.
“It’s definitely a lot,” she said. “We’re still kind of in the works of getting everything ready for the next single release and putting finals on the upcoming album, uploading all of the songs and lyrics, getting cover art ready and answering background questions for the songs, all of which gets put out to the public.
“But I’m still trying to have some fun.”
'I'm going to hit those notes'
Moss said she has always loved music and singing. She didn't even let leukemia treatments at age 3 stop her from dancing on her hospital bed.
“My family, we kind of listen to everything," Moss said. "Growing up, a lot of Chris Stapleton, but again, everything. I’ve become a huge fan of Jason Isbell.
“Songwriting is definitely a process, building a muscle essentially. And eventually you get to these songs where you can go out to the public.”Singer Lily Moss
"When I was little, I remember I would sing Carrie Underwood songs. I couldn’t always get to her pitches, but I thought, 'One day I’m going to hit those notes.'"
She started voice lessons in sixth grade and kept up until her senior year of high school. Then she started performing live around the Lehigh Valley.
"It quickly moved to plans for a career and eventually producing her own music. She said she considers her piano abilities intermediate — playing chords and melody enough to write a song and play during performances.
“Songwriting is definitely a process, building a muscle essentially," Moss said. "And eventually you get to these songs where you can go out to the public.”
She said no matter what subject matter she starts out writing, her biggest inspiration goes back to the idea of women being in power.
“Women owning their power,” she said.
It's who you know
A mutual friend connected Moss to Grammy-nominated producer Dan Malsch of Soundmine Recording Studio in Stroudsburg.
Together, the pair produced five of her original songs and released the first three on streaming platforms.
First was “Knees,” a song about a lover’s remorse, then “Secret,” a sultry, no apologies admission of loving someone unavailable, followed by the haunting ballad “Trigger.”
“They got a positive response," Malsch from his studio. "They were well-received.”
“So then we wanted to do something bigger. Let’s do an album.”Producer Dan Malsch
They've also collected almost a quarter-million streams to date, according to a news release.
“So then we wanted to do something bigger," Malsch said. "Let’s do an album.”
And that’s when “Broadway” came up.
“She came down and we talked," he said. "She’s very mature, smart, and has great parents. Sang a song for me on the piano. I thought she was awesome. She was so young.
"Her growth from when we started the record until now is pretty remarkable. She’s a quick learner.”
Malsch handed Moss the music for the title track and the task of coming up with the lyrics. She admitted she was a little nervous going into it.
“I remember how much I loved being in Nashville from going there,” she said. “So I thought, 'It’s a love story taking place on Broadway.'”
An album is written
Moss’s strength is hitting low notes "really strong — her range is quite low," Malsch said. "It’s quite hard to do. And she does it.
“I work with a lot of people. A lot of problems I have with singers, especially females, on low notes, is staying in tune. Being pitch-steady, that’s actually the easy part for her.
“Her hard part is push. She’s more subdued. But then I went and saw her perform live, and she can push. She was so good. She’s green, but she’s a natural. She smiles, she’s authentic. She’s not trying to be like someone else.”
They wrote and recorded the album in six months. If something wasn’t right, she’d turn it around pretty quickly, Malsch said.
In songwriting, a hook is what makes a song catchy, singable. You may not know the words to the rest of a song, but when that hook comes around, usually the chorus, you sing along like the song belongs to you. You’re "hooked."
Moss knows this. And because she has studied her favorite songs and lyrics in depth, she nailed the hook on “Meet Me on Broadway.”
It’s catchy. It’s hooky. Don’t need to know the rest of the words. That hook, that chorus comes up, and you're there with her on Nashville’s own Broadway.
She’s been to the country music capital a few times, most recently this spring for “Change the Conversation” with country music superstar Martina McBride, as a spectator.
For women in country music supporting each other, raising each other up, “being put in the spotlight and how we need more of it. A really cool event,” Moss said.
Getting her sound out there
The focus now is getting her music out there and heard by as many people as she can — "As big as I can get" is how Moss describes it.
“Longterm goal, obviously if I can pursue this as a full-time career, that would be my plan," she said.
"I always go to concerts, and whenever everybody puts their phone lights on for a slow song, I get the chills and want to do that one day.
“Growing up in Bethlehem around the SteelStacks and Musikfest, my family and I are huge music people, we were constantly, always surrounded by music. It’ll be kind of a full-circle moment."Singer Lily Moss
“Love songs and sad songs are kind of the easiest to write about, I feel, or are sometimes what you have experienced the most.
"It’s when you step outside the box that things get a little difficult or tricky. It’s hard to write a happy song to minor chords." That's her favorite, she said.
The famed Bluebird Cafe in Nashville is known for its singers in the round and surprise superstar drop-ins. Moss has been there and hopes to sing there one day.
No need to wait until Moss shows up for a round at the Bluebird Cafe. She’s got a steady schedule of area performances, including Bethlehem's Musikfest festival on Aug. 5.
“Growing up in Bethlehem around the SteelStacks and Musikfest, my family and I are huge music people, we were constantly, always surrounded by music," she said.
"It’ll be kind of a full-circle moment, having seen people perform at Musikfest and soon being on the stages where I once dreamed of being.
“It really ties back to where I grew up and where I want to be.”
To see Moss solo and with her Steel Ponies band, check out her website, Facebook and Instagram pages, and Bandsintown.com.
She’ll perform on the Wilbur Patio in Bethlehem at 7:30 p.m. July 4, and with her band at Forks Township Community Center on July 10.
