accessAtlanta

As Georgia as Lizz Wright is, you don't hear it in her almost French-sounding speaking voice.

Instead, it's in the languid beauty of the love songs on her third and most recent CD, "The Orchard." And it's definitely in the stories the now-Brooklyn-based singer shared before her Friday night homecoming.

Vincent Soyez / Special (ENLARGE)
Native Georgian songstress Lizz Wright performs Friday night (8 p.m.) at Center Stage with Heston as her opening act.
MOST POPULAR STORIES Police: Jeffrey Donovan arrested, suspected of DUI Report: Abdul's return to 'American Idol' doubtful Beastie Boy Adam Yauch has 'very treatable' cancer Fallon's '7th Floor West' is a silly, soapy treat Chris Brown apologizes for Rihanna beating
EMAIL THIS PRINT THIS MOST POPULAR
RELATED LINKS: • More accessAtlanta Music news • PHOTOS: Atlanta's hottest concerts

Among them...

• On her hometown: "Hahira, as I remember it, is hard to explain," Wright says of the South Georgia town near the Florida border. "There's a lot of family history on the land where my grandmother is. American history, too. I feel very connected to that piece of the earth, to the point that I don't even understand it. I love the woods. [Drifts off...]. And my grandmother — she's so happy her road is about to get paved over, and I'm absolutely devastated.

"I remember taking the art director and the crew down their the first time, for [her first CD] 'Salt,' and they said. 'I really understand you now. I really feel you. These trees. The air. I really get it.' "

"My friends really hear my Southernness when I talk to my grandmother on the phone. But yeah, I do get that a lot — that I don't sound it. My father, he was a public speaker. And he would always tell us, 'Don't sound like you're Southern, or people will think you don't know anything.' So now my brother, my sister, we all don't. I speak very, very plain English — which has come to be a good thing. But I also wish he had given me a break on that. Where I come from and what it means is all very precious."

• On Atlanta: "The Atlanta music scene is a huge part of my life," continues Wright, who moved here to attend Georgia State University, where she studied voice. "It's like a family. Everybody knows everybody.

"And around [the midtown Atlanta jazz club] Churchill Grounds, everyone took it upon themselves to teach me something...There was Bernard Linnette, a drummer, who gave me a notebook of music. And he told me about Little Jimmy Scott. That first night — when I was too young to even be in there — I was introduced to [pianist] Kenny Banks. And I was asked to sit in with In The Spirit. That was very, very huge for me as a musician; and a person. A lot of things started with Churchill Grounds. Everybody was watching out for me in the Atlanta jazz community, and I am always going to be so thankful. And feel so, so many gifts. So many."

• On leaving, and returning: "But there was a moment when I went home for a year of school. I couldn't stand it — it was crazy — and I ended up moving to Macon, Ga. Working at Geico as an insurance agent. Living in an apartment by myself. Listening to Abbey Lincoln and Betty Carter. Eating ramen noodles. And I was starting to think for the first time, 'You know, I don't need to achieve these things in a certain time period.' I was stopping the clock, I guess. But I started driving back [and forth] to Atlanta, and eventually made my way back."

CONCERT PREVIEW

Lizz Wright with Heston

Doors open at 8 tonight at Center Stage, 1374 W. Peachtree St. Tickets, $21, at Ticketmaster, 404-249-6400 or www.ticketmaster.com. Information: www.centerstage-atlanta.com.