Lily Vakili is set to release “Anybody Knows” tomorrow, March 20 (pre-save HERE), but today, Blues Rock Review is exclusively premiering the performance video for the song – watch it HERE.  It was filmed at Second Take Sound in New York City along with her Live Wire EP, out May 8 (pre-save HERE), an old-school, live in-studio, audio and video recording of songs named for what fans and critics alike say is a perfect description of her charismatic performance style.

Building on the success her 2025 album release Oceans Of Kansas and tour, for the intimate six-song Live Wire EP, Vakili wanted to capture the distinctive sound of performing this collection of songs with her touring band: Eric Burns on guitar (Super Yamba Band, Robert Finley), Joseph Yount on drums (Super Yamba Band), and Drew Hart on bass (The National Reserve).  The timing felt right because she’d just come off touring with the same group of musicians, so she called upon her collaborator, the Grammy-Award winning, Emmy-nominated producer/engineer Reed Turchi, to produce the EP at his studio Second Take Sound.

“Anybody Knows” captures the yearning of waiting for a lover to return. “The room is empty when they’re gone, complete when they return,” says Vakili.  “I wanted to write about this kind of small, interior moment (waiting for a lover to come home) and have it occupy an entire song.”  The slow tempo emphasizes the way time gets drawn out when you’re waiting, the drums mark the clock, the bass the wanting, and the guitar the intensity of desire.  “Performing the song live is delicious – the slow, driving beat and build up are fun to play with when the band is all in – and they sure were in this studio performance.  We had a good time,” says Vakili.

“Lily has established her reputation as both a performer and as a songwriter, and to me Live Wire is the most successful (to-date!) simultaneous showcasing of those strengths,” says Turchi.  “In a time of AI music and inhumane amounts of editing on even ‘roots’ style records, it is a huge risk — and a huge reward — to record an album like this, insisting on full-length song takes with everyone together in a room, rather than piecing things together bit by bit in the name of ‘perfection.’ There is no sorcery without sacrifice, and on Live Wire Lily proves that she will stand behind what she and the band do live rather than rely on studio trickery.”

Besides recent stellar reviews for Oceans Of Kansas, other highlights include the single, “Okoboji,” debuting on WFUV’s NY Slice.  Vakili’s performance of “Maybe It’s All Over,” as part of an In-Studio Session at WNRN, was named NPR Music Song of The Day on December 16, 2025 and featured on the websites of more than 20 NPR stations across the country.   With Live Wire, Vakili reimagines old favorites and introducestwo new songs showcasing her emotionally raw, live sound – a genre-blending fusion of blues, rock, and art rock elements, backed by poetic storytelling.

“What makes my music most compelling is when I perform it live with a band,” says Vakili.  “This is the message audiences have been telling me for a long time, so I decided to try to capture that sound in an in-studio session recorded the way jazz and vocalist performances used to be made, with everyone in one room with no headphones, no click track – just like we would on stage.  It either works or it doesn’t, but when it does, it’s electric and authentic.”

A lifelong observer, chronicler, and creative force, Lily Vakili has spent years gathering fragments of the world – memories, landscapes, voices, losses, joys – and transforming them into urgent, electric songs. She was raised across Honduras, Florida, Thailand, Puerto Rico, and Iowa – absorbing pieces of each place, each culture, along the way. This international upbringing shaped her worldview, her voice, and her lifelong search for connection.  The past decade has seen her channel that force through six studio albums – released both as a solo artist and with her successful Vakili Band – each one experimenting with the wide, untamed possibilities of rock.

Lily Vakili will play a special EP release show in New York at Francis Kite Club on May 6. She will begin her east coast tour May 13 with her touring band then head out to the west coast in June as a duo for more of a stripped down, intimate performance.  The initial dates have been announced, tickets are on sale now, and more shows will be announced soon.

Tour Dates – East Coast Full Band Shows:

Wednesday, May 6 in New York, NY at Francis Kite Club (EP Release Show)

Wednesday, May 13 in Atlanta, GA at Smith’s Atlanta Room

Thursday, May 14 in Charleston, SC at Tin Roof

Saturday, May 16 in Charlotte, NC at Starlight on 22

Tuesday, May 19 in Washington, DC at Pie Shop DC

Wednesday, May 20 in Philadelphia, PA @ Nikki Lopez

Tour Dates – West Coast Duo Shows (With Guitarist Eric Burns):

Wednesday, June 10 in Phoenix, AZ at Thunderbird Lounge

Friday, June 12 in Los Angeles, CA at Kulak’s Woodshed

Sunday, June 14 in San Francisco at Lost Church

Tuesday, June 16 in Portland, OR at White Eagle Saloon

Wednesday, June 17 in Seattle, WA at Fremont Abbey

LILY VAKILI:

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