Out Houston Singer Paige Lewis is Writing Real-Life Love Songs
She recently married her partner after years in the Christian music industry.
So much for scribbling hit songs on a napkin. Cute-as-a-button singer/songwriter Paige Lewis leaves herself phone messages with ideas for future songs as they come to mind.
“Right now, my phone is filled with voice messages of all these awesome songs I haven’t written yet,” she says. “I am prolific at writing, until I’m not.”
Lewis, who is openly gay, plays Saturday, August 25, at Neon Boots. She’s also booked this month at Capone’s, Bubba’s on Washington, Watson’s, Revelry, and The West End in Houston; Woodson’s Tap + Kitchen in Conroe; The Social Club in Katy; Capone’s in Missouri City; Sam’s Boat in Seabrook; and Baker Street in Sugar Land.
On September 5, she will play at Simple Pleasures Café in San Francisco, where Golden State fans know her from four full-length studio albums and an EP she dropped last year as part of a duo called See How They Run.
Lewis began taking piano lessons at age 5. At 14, she picked up a guitar while attending James E. Taylor High School in greater Katy.
“I recorded a demo, and my uncle, who is a songwriter in the industry, helped me get it out to people,” she says.
The Christian music industry in Nashville took notice, and Lewis found herself traveling back and forth to Tennessee, including a gig writing a song, “I’m All Yours,” for Rachael Lampa. It won an ASCAP award for one of 2002’s top songs for radio airplay.
“That was about the same time I started to realize that my sexuality was not congruent with the teachings of the Baptist Church,” says Lewis, who is now 34. “It was real tricky there for a few years, but I found my way. I still have faith. I still believe in God.”
When friends introduced Lewis to Aimee Pipes about 13 years ago, the pair fell in love, and Lewis graduated to writing songs about real-life romance.
“Before, I was writing about my faith, or a fictitious love interest—what I thought a love song would be like,” says Lewis.
Following a brief stint in California, she has performed music full-time in Houston since the end of 2016. Lewis and Pipes, a property manager, recently married. They live in the Montrose/River Oaks area.
A recent achievement for Lewis is an Uber commercial that she performs in. It promotes various artists and is the featured video on her Facebook page.
She has also been interviewed and featured on the FastCompany website (fastcompany.com/3050250/what-makes-uber-run), opened for LGBTQ singer/songwriter Jennifer Knapp in San Francisco, and performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live in Hollywood as a background singer for singer/songwriter José Gonzáles.
For more info about Paige Lewis, go to thepaige.com.
This article appears in the August 2018 edition of OutSmart magazine.
