Elizabeth McQueen Meet Brothers Lazaroff is more than the idea of diverse artists collaborating long-distance ... it's the interaction of two overlapping communities of musicians, artists and friends taking full-advantage of the best elements of what technology has made available. Touring, recording and creating together since the year 2000, Brothers Lazaroff and Elizabeth McQueen have deep professional and personal roots. After a decade of loose associations - fueled by a weekend of gigs with Brothers Lazaroff backing up Elizabeth McQueen earlier this year - they finally decided to embark on a true joint effort. With the incentive of stepping outside their individual comfort zones and welcoming each other into their respective pockets, both Elizabeth and the Brothers felt this project was long overdue.

Despite this effort being propelled by modern DIY tools and modes, Elizabeth McQueen and Brothers Lazaroff both operate in a more traditional approach to their craft; expressing their love of all forms of roots music in original and eccentric ways. These are groups comfortable traveling through most musical eras and landscapes, both with a deep affinity for the ancient idea of music as a unifying force in community and culture. With reverence for the kings and queens of their musical heritage, both of these artists find ways to produce modern sounds. In the process of traveling down parallel roads of art and life, they reached a crossroads ... an intersection ... where it was time to realize their mutual love for music that reaches outside of musical territory both artists have only flirted with in their own work.

In order to fully understand, we must take a few steps back.

Elizabeth McQueen and Brothers Lazaroff have a long musical history, initiated with David Lazaroff backing Elizabeth soon after they met in late 2000 on some of her first gigs in Austin, TX. Meanwhile, David and his brother Jeff in St. Louis wrote and recorded long distance, culminating with the recording of their first Brothers Lazaroff album in Elizabeth's husband, Dave Sanger’s, Austin studio. Elizabeth and the Brothers shared band members, recorded and sang each others tunes, and toured the midwest in a caravan of mini-vans, creating memories and cementing their friendship.

In 2005, Elizabeth was swept away to sing and play guitar with seminal western-swing legends Asleep At The Wheel. In 2008, David left Austin for St. Louis to focus on Brothers Lazaroff with Jeff, where they had put together an all-star, all-St. Louis unit of musicians; Grover Stewart, Teddy Brookins and Mo Egeston. Though their paths diverged, they never lost touch, reconnecting and playing together wherever and whenever they could.

Page forward to January 2012, Elizabeth comes to St. Louis to play a house concert gig with David and a full-band gig backed by Brothers Lazaroff. In the process, a new sound was born ... a natural melding of Elizabeth's Pop-loving, Americana jazz material from her recent album Laziest Girl In Town and Brothers Lazaroff new found neo-soul, groove-based Roots Music.

They decided they needed to take the collaboration further; to "Remix" or "re-imagine," both of their sounds. The concept was to take a few songs from Laziest Girl in Town and Laz it up ... in this process, tracks laid by monster Country and Rock session musicians from Austin will crossbreed with some of the heaviest cats in St. Louis' Electronic, Neo-Soul and Groove scene.

Throughout this collaboration, the communities that extend from Elizabeth McQueen and Brothers Lazaroff are brought that much closer together ... resulting in further proof and resolution in their mutual beliefs of the foundational purpose of playing music; to unify.

By supporting this project you will be helping these two artists realize a vision that may be long in the making, but only now ready to bring to fruition.