Stephanie Clifford discusses the ‘Farewell Tour’ at the Montvale Event Center

It’s “The Farewell Tour” for singer-songwriter Lillian Waters, but the second-book tour jaunt for author Stephanie Clifford.

The Seattle native, who wrote the 2015 novel “Everybody Rise,” is back with “The Farewell Tour,” which is about a country star, Waters, who is on her swan song run in 1980.

Clifford, 45, will discuss the period piece, which chronicles the life of a fictitious Walla Walla native, who beats the odds and becomes a Nashville sensation, Wednesday at the Montvale Event Center for a Northwest Passages event.

The novelist, who is a former New York Times staffer, is drawing a bit from her life while looking back at her depression-era grandmother’s existence in the Walla Walla area. However, most of what Clifford has conjured is pure fiction.

The Seattle native came up with a protagonist, who is a female that came of age during the prior century in a man’s world. Her initial concept was Waters working for Boeing.

“But I decided against that,” Clifford said while calling from Long Island. “I can only imagine how many letters I would have received from engineers explaining to me about how a plane is assembled.”

Good call. Music is arguably more interesting than aviation. Like Clifford’s grandmother, Waters leaves home at ten and works as a maid.

“My grandmother was an underpaid servant for a rich family for several years,” Clifford said. “Lil is in the same position. She eventually saves up to buy a guitar.”

Music saves Waters, who eventually finds her way to Nashville as a late bloomer of a country recording artist. Waters learns early that concessions must be made. Her producer informs her that she will no longer play guitar, which is a crushing blow.

But the resilient Waters has dealt with a number of obstacles throughout her life. Her last professional problem is a vocal issue, which requires surgery. However, Waters decides not to go under the knife and proceeds to embark on her final tour, which includes a sort of homecoming. Waters decides to return to Walla Walla for the first time since she left as a child.

“I based Lil somewhat on my grandmother and the women of Washington, who were kind of steely from that era,” Clifford said.

Give Clifford credit for paying attention to endless detail. “I know how music fans are and so I did my research,” Clifford said. “I dove into the history of country music. I had a passing familiarity of the roots of country music, but I had to dig deeper. I also tried to be as accurate as I could when it came to Washington.”

Clifford learned about how Appalachian music came west and did a deep dive into the Bakersfield sound. Clifford impresses by including such icons as Buck Owens and Don Rich into the novel. The latter, who hailed from Olympia, was a key country player in Bakersfield. Rich was one of Owens’ Buckaroos, but died at 32 during the early ’70s due to a motorcycle accident on the Pacific Coast Highway.

It took Clifford, who writes for the Atlantic and the New Yorker, six years to craft the book.

“I wanted this novel to be the best that it could be,” Clifford said. “Lillian has a giant chip on her shoulder when she goes to Nashville. She tries to bring the sound of Washington, the trains going across the cascades and what she heard in the ports of Tacoma on record and on the farm.”

Clifford spent considerable time in Walla Walla library. “I found a farmer’s journal from 1911,” Clifford said. “I went page by page to get the feel of what happened.”

A lesser person would’ve buckled facing such adversity. Waters leaves a bad marriage broke before ascending as a musician, who then becomes a contemporary of Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn. However, due to her throat ailment, Waters once again receives the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Waters remarks on that final jaunt. “She has one summer left to sing since she’s not going to get surgery,” Clifford said. “So she goes back to Walla Walla to see the family she hasn’t seen since she was a kid. She imagines a triumphant homecoming.”

However, nothing comes easily for Waters, who for much of her life beat the odds. Will there be a happy ending or another disappointment for Waters when she returns to Walla Walla?