"Lisa Cannon is another one of those overnight sensations that's been 20 years in the making... Her honest voice and willingness to experiment musically makes More Than 12 Stories Under the Sunan endearing introduction." -Album Network's Totally Adult Magazine "Imagine Tori Amos and Bonnie Raitt sitting in a studio making music together and you have a sense of the depth which Cannon's music reaches." -The Stanford Daily "You couldn't characterize Cannon's music as simply country or folk, roots rock or contemporary pop, but those elements are all surely there." -The Dayton Voice "Lisa Cannon...soon had the room pulsing to her blues and folk melodies." -The Event

Her debut album, More Than 12 Stories Under the Sun presents twelve songs penned in an acoustic, folk-rooted style with an eclectic mix of Celtic, swing, reggae and blues influences. When asked by Taylor Caffery about the inspirational feel behind her songs (during his 50-minute interview of Cannon on WRKF), she likened it to her attitude towards life: "When the road ahead looks rough and rocky and even dismal, there's that little light of hope of what can happen." It's this kind of feeling that brings a powerful emotion to the characters she creates, the storylines she delivers. Tales of everyday heroes facing the ups and downs of life.

Raised in Laguna Beach, Cannon's passion for the piano began at the age of eight when her grandmother's upright Steinway was handed down to her family. Classical and improvisational training became her foundation -- along with the added influences of her mother's boogie woogie piano playing and the songs of artists like Paul Simon and Carole King that she came to love singing. Cannon went on to Stanford University, earning an economics degree and expanding her musical development along the way. But it wasn't until her first year of law school at Brigham Young University that the melodies started springing into her head and she began writing songs for the first time. It was a momentous turning point in her life.

Cannon was "discovered" one night in 1992 while playing a solo acoustic set at Los Angeles' Troubador -- which led to a demo deal at A&M Records and also fostered a grant from Amnesty International to record a theme song she wrote for the organization. In 1995, during a four-month songwriting sabbatical along the Wasatch Mountains, she decided she would find a way to self-produce her first album -- the result being the release of More than 12 Stories Under the Sun in December, 1996.

For the past two years Lisa Cannon has toured extensively as a solo artist to promote her album, garnering a diverse and enthusiastic fan base wide and far. Her tourdates have included concerts at various folk festivals, acoustic folk-rock clubs, bookstores, churches, colleges, and coffeehouses across the nation, with highlights during her Fall '98 East Coast Tour at the Bitter End (NYC), Nameless Coffeehouse (Cambridge, MA) and WFMA Americana showcase (Arlington, VA). Of note, Cannon gave a stunning performance with her full band at Pasadena's Old Town Conservatory -- captured in a full-length live concert video, Live at Old Town. Most recently, Lisa has been a recipient of the ASCAP Popular Panel Award for 1998-1999, as well as garnering an Honorable Mention at the 1998 Napa Valley Folk Festival Emerging Songwriters' Showcase.

Cannon sings, If you ask all and really believe, you can walk on the surface of bottomless seas. Her debut album represents a dream realized. She hopes that her listeners will continue to feel uplifted by her music and inspired to recognize the wonder of each of their own life stories.

"I really feel like I'm trying to accomplish something in music," said the Los Angeles-based, folk-influenced pop singer. "I want to leave people with a story about life and hope about life. I want to re-create in people that childlike feeling that anything is possible."

Cannon was 8 when she started taking piano lessons...But it was after graduating Stanford University and in the middle of law school...that she began writing. "My songs seem to grow over time," said Cannon. "I start with an initial idea and fine-tune it along the way. It is all to communicate the story that I want to."

In 1995, Cannon returned to Utah and began writing what would become "More Than 12 Stories Under the Sun." What emerged was a musical vision shaped by her LDS values. Her writings aren't religious, but they contain a hopeful, moral message.

"With the world the way it is now, it sometimes feels that you have to sacrifice certain principles to fit in," she said. "I don't want to feel like I have to fit in like that. If you follow your heart, you can make it happen."

Take an economics major, a lawyer and a musician, put them in the same smiling, piano-playing frame and you've got Lisa Cannon, a queen of many trades but a pursuer of one.

An alumna of Stanford, Cannon has recently produced her first album, "More Than 12 Stories Under The Sun." It is a collection of folk-rock tunes rich with emotion and stories of life. Cannon uses her piano and warm voice to wrap you cozily in a blanket of idly wandering nostalgia.....

"Iwanted the album to have an earthy feeling, but I still wanted it to have the energy from rock music." That energy is evident throughout the album, and a slew of different instruments gives each track inklings of various musical styles. Imagine Tori Amos, Lisa Loeb and Bonnie Raitt sitting in a studio making music together and you have a sense of the depth which Cannon's music reaches.....

Cannon's experiences with people and life shine through in her music with a poignancy rarely found in modern rock. "More Than 12 Stories Under The Sun" bounces lightly with heart and soothes the troubled mind. Describing her own experience, Cannon said, "If you are open to life and where it leads you, and you follow your heart, it will take you in exciting directions."