Ben and Liz first met in Boston in 1998. Ben and his band Radish were in Boston auditioning a bass player [Josh Lattanzi] who, as fate would have it, happened to be Liz’s good friend. After the audition, Lattanzi asked Liz to give Ben a ride back to his house for an after party. The pair talked all night—“It was as if we were old friends catching up,” Liz remembers. Liz was about to head out for a road trip with her friend Anna, and Ben invited her to stay with his family in Dallas when they passed through town. “We started talking on the phone and developed crushes on each other.” That was 15 years ago—a cross-country move from Brooklyn and two kids later, the Kwellers are at home in Austin.

Liz, an art school grad and former jewelry designer for J. Crew, never planned on being in the music business, but the psychic they once met at the Chelsea Hotel in NYC was right—their best work is done when they work as a team. “She [artist Karen Finley] kept saying that we should create and collaborate on big projects together,” Liz says. She fondly recalls memories from their early dating life when Liz moved back to Connecticut, where she grew up and where Ben moved to be with her after a few months of dating long distance. “He was ready to try something new creatively, which ultimately became his solo career. He started writing these really beautiful and personal songs. It was a very inspiring time for him—new love, new surroundings, new people...”

Eventually they moved to NYC where Ben started recording an album in their apartment called Freak Out, It’s Ben Kweller. People like Evan Dando, Jeff Tweedy and Juliana Hatfield were the first to notice Ben as a solo artist and invited him to open up on tour. “I'm a great motivator and coach, and it was around this time when my different roles really started to kick in. We bought a bunch of puffy paint and made our own t-shirts, printed up some CDs of Freak Out and toured around in Ben's old Volvo—just the two of us,” she says. “It was fun to watch something so true and organic take off…There was no ego involved. I think his first solo show was at the Handcraft Center in Guilford, CT. He got a couple free art classes in return. He’d play the shows, and I’d sell merch.”

Ben signed with ATO Records in 2001 and things really took off. After the tour manager broke his leg, Liz took over as tour manager/merch saleswoman/van driver throughout their travels in the U.S., Australia and Europe. “In the span of about three years, we went from two people in the Volvo to a tour bus with full band and crew. It was exciting to see everything grow,” she says. “Ben and I love to brainstorm ideas and we pass everything by each other. We respect each others’ creative input tremendously.” Today, Liz is still managing the business, the big picture and giving input on the creative side. “I understand Ben's quirks and artistic aesthetic. More than anyone, I know who he is as a person and an artist, and I try to help preserve that in decisions."

After nine years in Brooklyn, the Kwellers were ready for a place with more space, nature, less cold weather and no street cleaning/parking issues. They spent their honeymoon on a road trip in the Hill Country. “I love that you can be hiking in the woods in five minutes. We love swimming in the surrounding rivers and creeks. The people are open and genuinely helpful in this city. It’s a city with a community feel. Plus, Austin has so much for kids and families.” They particularly love the Zilker neighborhood where they live and were thrilled to find a street that is home to 25 kids under the age of 10. Liz says: “It’s almost like a commune…if someone needs an avocado for dinner, they will post it on our street’s listserv, and sure enough somebody has one. We have wonderful block parties, travelling dinner parties, fun birthday celebrations and the most festive Halloween.”

Anyone who knows or even observes the Kwellers can see that their marriage is a special one. How have they made it work over the past 15 years? Liz’s words of advice—“Honesty, communication and know your lover…We like to do everything together. We are best friends and passionate lovers at the same time. We like to be on the same page no matter what phase of our life we’re in. When our children were born, we parented together. We travel together, eat together and include our children in our life. So many people I know send their kids off to bed so they can have alone time with their partner. We just like to be together and do everything full-on. We’re a tight unit and work to keep the unit intact within our crazy Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle!”