The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at his best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.Theodore Roosevelt


Lisa Dames is neither timid nor cold. She is a sassy, sexy wife and mother who is set to make her mark on country music. On Dames’ new album, No One Like Me, she explores her songs from the inside out, investing each one with a sense of urgency ripped from her own life. A life that could have been inconsequential in someone else’s hands.


The songs on Dames’ album No One Like Me represent a penetrating and sometimes humorous view of life from a woman’s perspective. “There seems to be a prevailing thought that once a woman gets married and has kids, she stops being a woman,” comments Dames. “I tend to believe the oppositethat a woman may get married and have kids, but first and foremost she’s a woman.”


From the comforts and confidence of leading the single life (“Good Time Lookin’ and “Kinda Fun (Getting Over You)” to the isolation of loneliness (“Way Down Here”) to the serious life struggles of “Just Another Day,” the songs create a tapestry of a relationship moving through its various stages.


During college Dames had a brief tenure working in sales at a country radio station in Cincinnatithe Beaver, 96.5. Later, while doing summer stock theatre, her roommate introduced her to Pam Tillis’ ‘Maybe It Was Memphis’ and Suzy Bogguss’ ‘Aces.’” “Those two albums really showed me what country music could do”, says Dames. “The voices and songs were both so compelling. I was hooked.” During this period, Dames met the man she would soon marry. Once her husband was out of school, the young couple moved to his native Milwaukee. There, Dames worked with several of the city’s professional theater companies. “After being told I wasn’t a singer,” Dames says with quiet satisfaction, “I worked nonstop for six years.” She became known as one of the best voices in Milwaukee.


“It’s funny, but portraying Patsy Cline is what helped me to develop my own style,” says Dames. “While most of the other actresses who were doing these shows were so focused on sounding just like Patsy, I was focused on the emotion she put into her songs. And, that’s how I try to sing everything. Without the emotion, it’s just a bunch of words. Patsy knew this. That’s why she’s timeless.”


No One Like Me is produced by Grammy nominated producer David Grow, best known for his studio work with pop piano icon Jim Brickman. It features songs by such Music Row luminaries as Brett James, Troy Verges, Victoria Shaw and Hillary Lindsey.