Category Archives: female artist interviews

Girls that Gab/Guitar with Mr.G

Dessa Come Back

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Spanning genres & disciplines, Dessa’s style is defined by wit, tenderness, rigor, & candor. As a musician, she’s co-composed for large choirs; crowd-surfed at rock clubs; recorded a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; and contributed a track to the #1 album The Hamilton Mixtape. As a speaker, Dessa regularly presents on art, science, and entrepreneurship at colleges and universities across the US. Her TED Talk, which recounts her science experiment on how to fall out of love, has notched more than 4 million views. As an author, she’s written for The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler; been broadcast by the BBC; and published several literary collections including the memoir-in-essays My Own Devices (Penguin Random House). She’s currently serving as Artist in Residence at Georgetown University’s Music Sustainability Initiative. Dessa lives in Minneapolis & Manhattan, still tours in a rented van, and is probably eavesdropping on the neighboring table, listening for a word to add to the collection. You can listen to her music, read her writing, and find her on Instagram as Dessa, and on Facebook & Bluesky as dessadarling. You can check out my past convo with Dessa here.

I had the opportunity to enjoy some time with friend of the proGram, Dessa ahead of the December 13th event on Atwood Music Hall in Madison. We got into what someone who heads out to the event is most likely in store for, including who will be traveling in the van here with her. We also spend some time with her allowing me to walk in her shoes for a bit and dive into her recent live work with the Minnesota Orchestra. When we spoke last year, it was obvious to me just how deep of a trip this is for her, so we discuss the ‘Feels’ and music surrounding this adventure. While all this is a great couple of stories to get into, for me talking about the Georgetown Artist in Residence 2025-2026 was a major highlight of this conversation. Dessa allows us to get into a real time thought bubble and hearing her talk about this, made me beam (and also feel some knots in my belly. Exciting and cool stuff for a person my inner voices seem to resonate with.

photo by: Athel Rogers

Caroline Davis’ Portals

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Alive with nurturing visions of simple sonic offerings to morph our present situation, Caroline Davis’ main reason for playing music is to connect with others. Her musical journey began in Singapore, in a humid climate, hearing sounds underwater that she would recreate by singing to her German shepherd dogs. Her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, around age 6, where she encountered R&B & gospel music rife with horns that called her to choose the saxophone 6 years later. Today Caroline’s music covers a wide range of styles, owed to this shifting environment. As a leader, she has released 8 albums. Her active projects include jazz-leaning Portals, experimental R&B My Tree, & protest band Alula. She has won Downbeat’s Critic’s Poll Rising Star Alto-Saxophonist (2018) and has been included in numerous Reader & Critics Polls. Her work has garnered much praise from NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Wire, DownBeat, and many international publications. She is active as both a side-person and a leader in a diverse set of expressions. She has shared the stage with Lee Konitz, Rajna Swaminathan, Michelle Boulé, Angelica Sanchez, John Zorn, Bari Kim, Wendy Eisenberg, The Femme Jam, Matt Mitchell, Terry Riley, Miles Okazaki, & Billy Kaye. Outside of these performance relationships, she has been involved with the following mentorship communities: IAJE’s Sisters in Jazz, the Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program, and Mutual Mentorship for Musicians. Grants & residencies supporting a grateful Caroline include: Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Chamber Music America, New York Foundation for the Arts, Jerome Hill, Civitella Residency, BringAbout Residency, Avaloch Farm Music Institute Residency, The Jazz Gallery Fellowship, and MacDowell. Some of her compositional practice integrates music with cognitive science, influenced by her Ph.D in Music Cognition. Caroline’s awards & recognitions are plentiful. She has been involved with various mentorship communities: IAJE’s Sisters in Jazz (2006), the Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program (2011), and Jen Shyu/Sara Serpa’s Mutual Mentorship Program (2020). Davis was the recipient of CMA’s Performance Plus Grant (2021), NYFA’s City Artist Corps Grant (2021), Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (2019-2020); and she was a fellow-in-residence at The Jazz Gallery (2022) and composer-in-residence at MacDowell (2019), Avaloch Farm Music Institute (2023-24), and Civitella (2025). Some of her compositional practice integrates music with cognitive science influenced by her Ph.D in Music Cognition. As a teaching artist, Caroline brings her unique knowledge of music and psychology to her teaching. She offers a yearly Jazz & Gender course at The New School, co-taught with Sarah Elizabeth Charles, and private lessons at Manhattan School of Music, and has been invited to institutions of all levels as a guest educator. Caroline is an advocate for social justice in the realms of gender (This Is a Movement) and in the movement for carceral justice (Justice for Keith Lamar). She is organizing community events as “Community Conversations on Art & Justice for Incarcerated People”, showcasing the intersectionality between liberation and art of all forms.

I had a chance to catch up with Caroline ahead of the Portals November 5th show in Madison at Art Literature Laboratory. We talk about this event being an immersive sound experience, drawing upon the idea of mourning & ancestral communications as textural entities. The music has been mindfully written to offer connections to Caroline’s ancestors, biological and chosen, who have transitioned, and the elements they liked to explore through the life-cycle portal. Through this music, the ensemble engages in the connective tissue between dual & non-dual realms of existence. We get into how show got the right pieces in place for this group, the latest album Vol. 2: Returning & the poetry that inspired so much of these moments. We make sure to find time to talk about just what she is doing within the prison abolitionism movement. As always, it is not only the artists and their art. it is the people.

Photo By: Michael Jackson

KAIA String Quartet Plays Melharmony 2025

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Celebrating 25 years of Melharmony featuring Maestro Chitravina N Ravikiran, the creator of Melharmony with Artists from the Midwest including the KAIA Quartet. From the tango of the Rio de la Plata to the string quartets of Silvestre Revueltas, the KAIA String Quartet is an ensemble devoted to promoting the rich & colorful music of Latin America. Active performers in both the US & abroad, highlights of the most recent season include a collaboration with Jazz singer Paul Marinaro and performances at Chicago area venues including the Studebaker Theatre, the Epiphany Center for the Arts, the Morton Arboretum, the Mozart Immersive Experience, and the Kenilworth Assembly Hall. The quartet’s most recent tour of Uruguay & Argentina included a performance at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The Quartet plays an active role in Chicago’s music scene and has performed at the Chicago Latino Music Festival, the Ear Taxi Festival, & Chamber Music on the Fox. Celebrated by Downbeat magazine for its ability to “beautifully blur the lines between jazz, classical, Latin & world music” KAIA’s album collaboration with friend of the proGram Fareed Haque was chosen by Chicago Tribune’s Howard Reich as one of the top 10 classical recordings of 2018. Their album, Sureño, explores the music and relationship of Argentinian composers Astor Piazzolla & José Bragato. The latest recording project released in 2020 includes a collaboration with jazz pianist Ryan Cohan in his work Originations. KAIA together with Cohan and his chamber ensemble were featured performing this piece at 2019 Chicago’s Jazz Fest main stage. KAIA is deeply devoted to music education. They are teaching artists for Ravinia’s Reach*Teach*Play program and for Classical Music Chicago’s Young Peoples’ Concerts program. KAIA founded DePaul University’s Community Music Division chamber program where they inspire the next generation of performers. During the 2023-24 season, the KAIA String Quartet was invited to teach and perform at Michigan State University & Carthage College as artists-in-residence. In the summer of 2023, KAIA was on the New England Music Camp’s Chamber Music Intensive faculty as the resident quartet and returned in the summer of 2024.

I had the chance to catch up with Victoria Moreira, founding member & 1st violin of KAIA ahead of next week’s festivities. We got into just what will be going down as they support Maestro Ravikiran’s vision and direction (check out my conversation with Maestro Ravikiran ahead of last year’s Melharmony Festival), including working as a quartet with a local Madison bassist for this collaboration. They will be doing a set as themselves (including one substitute we learn about from the normal quartet) they will feature some recognizable artists to many ears that may feel not as trained in the classical scene. I could easily hear the excitement in Victoria’s voice when we spoke about this concert. We get a little into the fact that KAIA is (usually) an all women group and how today this idea is more celebrated as we still do wish this was not something that always has to be brought up. I also was curious about music or artists she’d listen to if we were just hanging out toGether and without surprise, we easily found a common ground and that we agreed on the fact that ‘A good song, is a good song’.

Mutual Mentorship for Musicians Festival

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Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), the groundbreaking initiative dedicated to advancing professional and artistic growth for women and gender-expansive musicians, presents the 4th annual M³ Festival 2025 on Saturday, October 4 at Roulette Intermedium, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. The event begins at 7 pm and diGital tixx are available. The marathon-style event features Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Becca Stevens, NEA Jazz Master & pianist Kenny Barron, acclaimed saxophonist/ composer Immanuel Wilkins, and pioneering M³ musicians and their projects including Siren Xypher (Melanie Dyer, Mara Rosenbloom, Kyoto Kitamura), Shoko Nagai and Satoshi Takeishi’s Vortex, Vertical Sounds (Kess Southpaw, Mnisibass, Melanie Dyer), Maia & Zamonda, and Devon Gates’ Ghost Stories (Gates, Victoria Awkward, Matt Greenwood), and Gili Lopes. Audience members at prior M³ festivals described the event as “innovative, nourishing, forward-thinking… shocking, heart-opening, magical… dynamic, creative and vibrant… collaborative… a beautiful collective of people really supporting each other through their creative process and learning from each other…you can see that give and take through the music that they’ve created.” The Festival will also launch the inaugural issue of M³ Magazine featuring writing from most of the artists performing at the Festival. It also includes an interview with 2025 M³ Luminary Awardee Maia who has earned renown as a longtime active member of the AACM and is giving a rare NYC performance at the Festival. The magazine springs from M³’s Anthologies of Writings which were formerly published in book format. Now celebrating its 5th anniversary, M³ was founded during the COVID pandemic in 2020 by Jen Shyu & Sara Serpa as a platform for creative risk-taking, exchange through musical commissions, peer-led mentorship, publication of anthologies, performances, festivals, and awards. In just 5 years, M3 has commissioned & supported 92 artists creating 46 new co-compositions and transforming the creative music industry around the world. Serpa & Shyu conceived of M³ through conversations about elevating women and non-binary musicians, particularly those of color, in their global music community. Having both experienced inequities in professional opportunities and financial remuneration, limited recognition and media visibility, and isolation in their own careers, they recognized firsthand the need for greater opportunity, community and support, as well as the need for women & non-binary mentors in the music industry.

I had the pleasure of catching up with the amazingly cool, Jen Shyu to get a peek behind the curtain when it comes to all that Mutual Mentorship for Musicians is about. We start by getting into each of the artists that will be making the maGic happen this year as part of the 2025 festival. We get a little flip the baseball card over and get a taste of each and this line-up is so sweet. We spend a bunch of time discussion the who & what of the why Mutual Mentorship for Musicians was born and nurtured. How many artist have been involved and just how the bridge to each other keeps on making global connections. We go through the process and rewards, the ins and outs and mostly the community that is constantly growing. Equality is something that has a definition but seems to be constantly overlooked in many scenes and environments and I am proud to be spreading the love of this festival and the important work that Jen & Sara are constantly finding time to keep the momentum moving forward. This conversation is detailed from start to finish and hopefully it wakens a bit of the ‘how can I help’ energy within others. I am so excited to get that streaming link and watch the soul changing event work its way through me. You can find out more about tixx here.

HIROMI’s SONICWONDER

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HIROMI has been began playing the piano since age six and studied composition at the Yamaha Music School. At age 17, she performed with Chick Corea. In 1999, she enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston. While a student, she signed with the prestigious jazz label Telarc and made her international debut in 2003 with the album “Another Mind.” In 2008, she released the album “Duet” with Chick Corea. In 2011, she won the “Best Contemporary Jazz Album” award at the 53rd Grammy Awards for her collaboration with Stanley Clarke, “The Stanley Clarke Band Featuring Hiromi Uehara.” In 2013, to coincide with the US release of her album “MOVE,” she appeared on the cover of the April issue of Downbeat, America’s most prestigious jazz magazine. In April 2016, Hiromi released her 4th album, “SPARK,” as the Trio Project FT. Anthony Jackson & Simon Phillips, which reached number 1 on the US Billboard Jazz Chart. In 2017, she performed at the BBC Proms, released the album “Live in Montreal” with Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda, and became the only Japanese artist to perform at New York’s Blue Note for 13 consecutive years. In 2019, she released her 1st solo piano album in 10 years, “SPECTRUM.” Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, she has launched the “SAVE LIVE MUSIC” series at Blue Note Tokyo to support the struggling live music industry. Despite various restrictions, she has performed over 100 times. In July 2021, she performed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Opening Ceremony. In September, Hiromi Uehara The Piano Quintet, a new project born from SAVE LIVE MUSIC, released the album SILVER LINING SUITE worldwide. She served as music director for the film BLUE GIANT, which was released in theaters in February 2023, and won the Best Original Score Award at the 47th Japan Academy Awards. In September, she released the album Sonicwonderland as part of her new project, Hiromi’s Sonicwonder. She also made a splash by appearing on the popular program Tiny Desk Concerts, organized by the American broadcasting station NPR. Hiromi’s Sonicwonder‘s latest album, OUT THERE, was released in April 2025. In Japan, he has received the 57th Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize in the Popular Entertainment category in 2007, the Japan Record Award for Best Album in 2008 and 2017, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs Commissioner’s Award in 2023.

I had the honor of spending a little time chatting with HIROMI ahead of the October 2nd show with SONICWONDER in Madison at the Union Theater’s Shannon Hall. We got into the pieces of the group that will be creating all this wonder when they hit Madison. Each artist brings that something she was looking for. I had caught their set t the Detroit Jazz Festival this year and we chatted about that experience and the specialness of an audience that is ready for everything. We dive into the creation of the latest release OUT THERE from SONICWONDER and the power of improvised music. When discussing her participation in the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, it was refreshing to hear that this show in Madison will be just as important to her as that one. No surprise that when I asked her to chose a song off OUT THERE to build a setlist around, she went with Balloon Pop – we take a walk through that track together, and she would pair it with something(s) from Mr. Chick Corea. This show is going to be one that people who are there will pull up from the memory banks when a good time reminder is needed.

Still & Bright With Amythyst Kiah

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Produced by Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Green Day, Weezer) and recorded at his Nashville studio, Amythyst Kiah’s latest album Still + Bright explores the vast expanse of her inner world: her deep-rooted affinity for Eastern philosophies & spiritual traditions, a near-mystical connection with the natural world, the life lessons learned in her formative years as a self-described “anime-nerd mall goth.” In dreaming up the backdrop to her revelatory storytelling, Amythyst & Walker arrived at a darkly cinematic & exhilarating twist on the rootsy alt-rock of her 2021 breakthrough album Wary + Strange, an LP that landed on Rolling Stone’s list of the 25 Best Country & Americana Albums of 2021 and drew acclaim from major outlets like Pitchfork. With its sonic palette encompassing everything from fuzzed-out guitars & industrial-leaning beats to gilded pedal steel and Kiah’s exquisitely graceful banjo work, Still + Bright fully affirms her as an artist of both daring originality & uncompromising depth. On Wary + Strange, Kiah offered up a collection of spellbinding songs detailing her experience with grief & trauma & alienation, each illuminating the extraordinary impact of her songwriting. An electrifying showcase for her singular musicality and soul-stirring voice, Kiah’s Rounder Records debut soon found many leading critics hailing her as a formidable new talent, adding to a list of accolades that includes earning a Grammy nomination for her powerhouse anthem “Black Myself.” But when it came time to create her follow-up, the Tennessee-born singer/songwriter felt compelled toward a profound shift in her artistry. Although Kiah’s third full-length marks a departure from the anguished emotionality of its predecessor (an album informed by losing her mother to suicide at age 17), Kiah imparts all of Still + Bright with a hypnotic intensity born from boldly stating her convictions. All throughout Still + Bright, she reveals her rare ability to spin her fascinations into songs uncovering essential truths about human nature. The making of Still + Bright involved a careful transformation of the songwriting process she adopted after composing her first song on a Fender acoustic at age 13. The latest turn in a dynamic career that’s included joining Our Native Daughters (an all-women-of-color supergroup also featuring Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, & friend of the program, Allison Russell), the album marks her 1st time opening up her approach and working with co-writers, including punk legend Tim Armstrong, Sadler Vaden (a guitarist/vocalist for Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit), former Pentatonix member Avi Kaplan, and Sean McConnell (a singer/songwriter who’s also written with Brittney Spencer & Bethany Cosentino). While Still + Bright undoubtedly finds Kiah pushing into new emotional and musical terrain, the album also makes for a vital new addition to a body of work largely dedicated to exploring the struggle and joy of true self-discovery.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Amythyst before she makes her way to the Madison area performing a solo event at the Mineral Point Opera House on September 5th. We start of talking about what the solo thang looks/sounds like. It seems like a great opportunity to really get to know the person and the art. We get into the creating of and change in writing approach while working with partners for the making of ‘Still + Bright, and dissect two songs, one of which, ‘Empire Of Love’ is a song I am so excited to see/feel live. How did she get to work with Moby you wonder? Answered here and when I stop and put myself in her shoes I get that goosebumpy feeling. Before wrapping up our conversation, I was curious as to where she found herself gaining a personal inspiration or feeling on contentment while putting the songs on “Still + Bright” toGether and we end up finding something we definitely both have in common…Mother Nature for the win.

Nicole Zuraitis Live At Vic’s

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GRAMMY-winning vocalist, pianist, & songwriter Nicole Zuraitis shows she is a one-of-a-kind artist with the release of her 1st ever concert album, Live at Vic’s, recorded at the eponymous Las Vegas jazz club. In the span of a 2 hour show, she delivers a masterful performance that reflects the full scope of her artistry and makes clear why she stands out in today’s musical landscape. Nicole effortlessly shows her mastery of multiple roles: Singer. Pianist. Improviser. Songwriter. Storyteller. Arranger. A masterful interpreter of jazz, pop, and anything else she seems to put her mind to. Live at Vic’s arrives on the heels of 2 major Grammy wins: in 2024 Nicole won Best Jazz Vocal album for How Love Begins, a historic win as the first independent artist to win in this category (who also wrote and arranged the entire album themselves) and a year later she earned a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble alongside partner & collaborator Dan Pugach for Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence which was inspired by their mutual passion for rescuing and fostering dogs. Joined by an exceptional ensemble, Live at Vic’s is a powerhouse album in part because she uses her arrangements to bring out the best in the musicians around her including her featured longtime group of Idan Morim (guitar), Dan Pugach (drums), and Samuel Weber (bass) with special guests Keyon Harold (trumpet), Rachel Eckroth (organ), and Tom Scott (saxophone). “It’s jazz. The magic of it is the improv. So the songs are 11 minutes, and everybody’s shredding,” Zuraitis says. “I wanted to make an album for people of songs that I adore. This feels like the pinnacle of my career to get onstage and go: This is what I sound like. Every single thing on this album is arranged by me or written by me. It’s all live, unedited. No auto tune. Everything is here.” This is just how I would want it!!

I had the pleasure of chatting it up with Nicole about this new and first live release. We get into each musician and what the bring to the project. For me, this ‘Live At Vic’s’ record is very much a keyhole view into a setlist that’s created for a wide variety of people to really get into and feel personally about. We talk about how paying the bills working at all sorts of gigs, playing other people’s songs and adding her own touch, made a different in how she presented and wrote her own songs. Nicole and I dissect one of the cover tunes, Steve Nicks’ ‘Rhiannon’ and how this song formed with her and the band’s own take without losing any of the original feelings. Also put under the microscope is my favorite tune on the album ‘All Stars Lead To You‘, a tune I truly feel will open up more people to the abilities Nicole (and band) possess. Her, Modern Songbook style is so appealing to people who don’t stop at a genre, and is such an inviting thing…this new live record is a welcome mat into a new groove people should allowing right in.

Black Thunder by Brittany Davis

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Black Thunder is the new album by Seattle-based artist Brittany Davis, which arrived on June 13 2025 on Loosegroove Records, a label run by Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard. This release features Davis on keys & vocals, Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, & D’Vonne Lewis on drums, and recalls artists like Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, & Rahsaan Roland Kirk in its immersive, incantatory spirit. The trio, who barely knew each other previously, completely improvised Black Thunder in a surge of interactive creativity across 2 days in the studio. The pressure-cooker environment did away with overthinking & brought each musician’s A-game. Steeped in Black & Afrocentric cultural influences, this is Brittany’s most poignant & cathartic work to date. “In some way, it feels like they’ve been preparing for this recording all their lives. Honing their instrumental craft & ability, of course but more importantly, preparing their ears, emotions, & egos to be fully present and create absolutely in the moment,” Producer Josh Evans said. “To listen deeply and respond empathetically. To speak with uncomfortable honesty. To listen, and be vulnerable.” Davis — who has been blind since birth, arrives at Black Thunder via considerable headwinds. In 2023, she released her debut album, Image Issues, also via Loosegroove Records. The album met critical hosannas, including recognition & appearance on NPR Tiny Desk Home, KEXP, World Cafe & SPIN. In 2023, Davis was featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, which noted, “She uses her music to connect with people and fight for a more inclusive world.” Black Thunder marks a shift away from Image Issues’ urban soul-funk built upon drum machines & programmed keys; instead opting for a fully live, organic performance, one that showcases her stylistic maturation, pure expression and the breadth of her versatility. “She is channeling something or someone else,” the producer adds. “Voices, spirits, the divine — something bigger than the room itself. Something more than just the 3 musicians playing, something older, something deeper.” “So many things I’ve never seen / but I’ve touched it all, it seems,” Davis sings on the album’s first single, “Amid the Blackout of the Night.” “She’s never seen the stars; she’s never seen the sun nor moon; she’s never seen the night. But how can she somehow still perfectly capture that feeling of looking up into the night sky?” Evans says. “Is there more to seeing than just sight?” ​Black Thunder is the work of a brilliantly unique artist charting a course all her own. By bulldozing easy narratives and accessing the realm of pure feeling, this latest missive is a creative thunderclap that will be impossible to unhear.

I had the complete honor of getting to spend a little toGether time in the now with Brittany Davis to dive body Mind and soul equally into the new ‘Black Thunder’ record. We talked about the seed to flower story of its birth and how its way of being created was a true new definition to organic. Spiritual Jazz might be the label where you’d find someone put this record, but it is so much more thank any one idea can fit. It is deep in places where toes can no longer touch the bottom and that’s where its treasures are discovered. We get into the celebration of all people within this music and how perceptions become true entities. We point to a couple of tracks for examples, surely ever person should feel each one differently on their own but Brittany talks about her desire to have this album exercise individual’s minds. We talk about the clear differences between her debut album, ‘Image Issue’ while really shouting out the similarities that are present. This is music of the then, the now and the then of later now(s). Brittany opens up about her blindness and how it takes a different way to make connections within the face of reality, but at the end of the day, this shining star knows more just by being present and paying attention. At the end, we may have come up with a podcast idea – let’s see if that connection gets fulfilled. This is one of my favorite new sonic stories to flip through and I am proud ot be able to share a bit of it and Brittany with you.

Dixie’s Final Party In Madison

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NBC’s “The Today Show” exclaimed, “It’s not your grandma’s Tupperware party” and with good reason. This hilarious one-person comedy has become one of the most successful off-Broadway tours of the last decade and is rolling into Overture Center with “The Final Season” on Friday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Capitol Theater. Following 17 years of laugh-out-loud performances, Dixie is holding her final season of Tupperware parties with Madison being the 2nd to last stop on the tour. Dixie Longate, the fast-talking Tupperware Lady, packed up her catalogues, left her children in an Alabama trailer park and travels across the US & around the world throwing good ol’ fashioned Tupperware Parties filled with hilarious stories, heartfelt accounts of its importance to women, free giveaways, outrageous audience participation and the most fabulous assortment of Tupperware ever sold on a theater stage. Who better to bring the joy of Tupperware to a mass audience than the gal, who since 2003, has been recognized yearly by Tupperware as one of their top sellers. Audiences tend to howl with laughter as Dixie demonstrates the many alternative uses for the iconic plastic kitchen staple. Filled with outrageously audience participation and a little bit of empowerment & homespun wisdom, Dixie’s Tupperware Party leaves your heart a little bigger and your food a little fresher. The show has ADULT CONTENT.

Dixie’s Bio:

Dixie Longate hails from Mobile, Alabama, where she lives with her 3 kids: Wynona, Dwayne & Absorbine, Jr. She started selling Tupperware as part of the conditions of her parole back in 2001. Within a few years, she became the top selling Tupperware representative in the US. When a friend of hers told her she should turn her living room party into a theatrical show, she laughed so hard at the idea, she almost had to put down her drink. Dixie’s Tupperware Party soon opened off-Broadway in 2007 to both raving fans & great reviews. The show earned Dixie a Drama Desk Award Nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance. She lost to Laurence Fishburne. Really. Look it up. The following year, with plastic bowls in hand, she embarked on a small tour to some theaters in the US. 12 years later, that tour was still running and had become one of the longest-running, off-Broadway tours in American theater history. During the lockdown in 2020, she came up with her first streaming show while refilling her breakfast vodka as she was trying to homeschool her kids. “Dixie’s Happy Hour” ran in 26 cities over the first few months of 2021. After 22 months of being forced to be with her kids full-time, which was about the meanest thing anyone has ever done to her by the way, she decided it was time to emerge from the trailer to share all the things that she learned when the world was flipped over and life took a crap on the front lawn with her new show, “Cherry Bombs and Bottle Rockets.”

I had the chance to catch up with our favorite Tupperware pusher, Dixie Longate ahead of the final stop in Madison as plans and directions change. We can catch her 6/27 at the Overture. We get into what she thinks it is about her and Madison, WI that always seems to jive when we all get together. She reminds the newbies about just what this show she brings is all about. We do cover what is in the future that changes her touring around and stopping thru many places around the country – hint, the show goes on, just she will have a home base for us to go to and she does let us know the things she will miss about coming…to towns and spaces all over. Always a pleasure and joy to speak with Dixie and this time is no different. So, Join the party in Madison and help Dixie meet her final sales quotas!

Bitter:Sweet Baby IS Back

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Since their critically acclaimed debut, Bitter:Sweet has masterfully blended bold beats with lush melodies, carving out a signature cosmopolitan fusion that captivates listeners. Their genre-defying style draws inspiration from Portishead’s cinematic drama, Gilberto Gil’s tropical rhythms, Morcheeba’s downtempo elegance, & Serge Gainsbourg’s lyrical sophistication. The result is a sound synonymous w/style, allure, & timeless class. With over half a million records sold and over 50 various films, tv shows, & brands using Bitter:Sweet’s music to soundtrack their story, Bitter:Sweet is likely one of the world’s most listened to bands in the world, yet whose fame has yet to catch up with their amazing reach. Their trademark sound have appeared in such projects as, ‘The Devil WearsPrada’, ‘Entourage’, & ‘Desperate Housewives’, as well as in ad campaigns for Victoria’s Secret, Coach, & Range Rover. Shana Halligan is a Los Angeles-born singer, songwriter, composer, and one of the most distinctive voices in modern music. With a career spanning nearly 2 decades, she has become known for her sultry vocals, genre-defying creativity, & unrelenting dedication to her craft. She first rose to prominence as the lead vocalist & co-writer of Bitter:Sweet, which she co-founded in 2006. Shana has reignited the Bitter:Sweet project in 2025 with the release of Baby Is Back, an album that signals a daring reinvention. Dropped on April 24, this record reintroduces the band’s signature aesthetic through a contemporary lens, merging lush orchestration with smoky grooves & innovative storytelling. The album’s title track struts with playful bravado, while “Rise” delivers a poignant farewell to Halligan’s late father, adorned with haunting strings from Serj Tankian of System Of A Down and lyrical grace. Other standout cuts—“Ecoute Ma Voix,” “Rosary,” “Lover’s Waltz,” and “Roaring 21”—highlight the renewed fire and fearless artistry behind Bitter:Sweet’s return. Album out now. Bitter:Sweet returns with a brand new album, ‘Baby Is Back’ was officially released on April 25 2025. I for one am ready for this bold and sexy new chapter.

I had the chance to happily chat with Shana about the creation of and the story writing behind the new album, Baby Is Back. But first, We find out how she is doing as a person and what she has been up to in the ten years or so since BitterSweet dissolved. the we hop into how she was able to create a new sonic adventure that is both filled with nostalgia and a brand new something something – as we know – not as easy thing to be able to trap in a moment, never mind many moments. We also talk about how a recent spoken word gathering where she worked with jazz musicians really opened up some paths for her stories to find and walk down – really gaining introspection and yes, there’s more Bitter:Sweet even to come it sounds like. Shana take a moment to build a setlist, which I could just listen to over and over (and over) again. I am always excited when an artist, reveals some of their inner findings through art while in our conversation and Shana and I carved out a little of that here. And one of us is working on a book?! A pleasure.

Valerie June Is One Of Kind

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Valerie June has opened her deepest channel yet to create her 4th studio album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles. The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter & 3-time Americana Music Honors & Awards nominee weaves fresh medicinal downloads of love, sweetness, goodness, & joy together w/songs that have flowed through her for many years. Halfway through a decade of immense and rapid global change, she asserts a multidimensional Blackness steeped in laughter, truth, magic, delight, & interdependence. The opening track & 1st single, “Joy, Joy!”, gives us an irresistible &playful invitation to surrender to the light always available in our souls. This album is a radical statement to break with the skepticism, surveillance & doom scrolling to let yourself celebrate your aliveness. Connect, weep, change, open. Rooted in the belief that what we focus on is what we manifest, Valerie June dreams a songpath forward that leaves no one behind. She has been softening & clarifying her sound since the 2013 release of Pushin’ Against A Stone. From the Kennedy Center and opening for The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park to supporting Tyler Childers, Trevor Hall, Brandi Carlile, Gary Clark Jr., & John Prine, she offers us a root system spanning Earth’s magma core to the cosmos. This newest work shows her own spiritual growth, her deepening, the opening of ancestral channels into both her glorious voice and her tender lyrics. Valerie is not alone in crafting this sacred field for the contemplation of love and being human. Her dynamic & distinct voice centers an incredible circle of collaborators, including producer M. Ward and special guests Blind Boys of Alabama, Norah Jones, & DJ Cavem Moetavation. In this vast realm, we can follow June’s singular sound, a north star as steady and undeniable as any true love story, telling us to “trust the path.” She is inviting us out of the small boxes that keep us apart from each other, her music creating a space where we are already together, already one. She wants everyone who listens to this music to want to be alive, to love, co-creating a future together. Mavis Staples, Newport Folk Festival, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival were the auspicious forces that led June & Ward to record 14 original songs at 64 Sound in Los Angeles. Backstage is where the magic happens. Musicians often find themselves traveling to similar festivals. With a spirit of togetherness circling her at every turn, in summer/fall 2023, June joined Ward for spontaneous guest appearances during his sets at Newport Folk Festival & Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, setting the plan in motion to work together in the studio. The rest is an adventure for you to listen, hear, feel and share. This album, not unlike Valerie herself, is not made for one…this art is made for all.

I had the honor of spending a little time chatting with Valerie ahead of her May 30th show at the Majestic Theater. We talk about her amazing band and what is bound to take place once they all get thinGs going. It’s gonna be a rockin’ and rollin’ time it sure sounds like and video evidence on the interwebs proves it. We go for a stroll through the new album ‘Owls, Omens and Oracles’ and how it made its way into the world and we specifically call out the ever-so-upbeat tune ‘Joy Joy’ so the feelings can slide off onto all of us. I felt like it was important to do a compare and contrast between her recent time at the Grand Ole Opry and the time before – you can hear the deeper feelings/emotions she felt this time around. Valerie is no stranger to the give back, so I make sure to let her talk about being a supporter of the arts in education and of course, she let’s us know which tune is kinda sorta her fav. Truly a star in our universe, the genreless and brilliant, Valerie June.

Deerlady Is Real Feeling

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Performing as the shoegaze duo Deerlady, Mali Obomsawin & Magdalena Abrego are 2 improvising artists bonded in the language of experimentation. Their debut album ‘Greatest Hits’ is a journey thru songs penned by Obomsawin that explore decay & delicate moments, cradled by Abrego’s worldbuilding & evocative guitar playing. The band’s 1st single “There, There” premiered on the hit FX series Reservation Dogs in 2023, and the album, released the following January, has quickly won over audiences across Indian Country and the US. Described by NPR’s Lars Gotrich as a “headbang while you weep” experience, Deerlady is currently touring ‘Greatest Hits’ throughout 2024 and into 2025.

Mali Obomsawin is a genre-defying bassist, composer, vocalist and citizen of the Odanak First Nation. Her increasingly broad body of work spans jazz & roots music, indie rock & experimental sound. An international touring artist and celebrated accompanist, her current projects include this shoegaze duo Deerlady, the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band and her eponymous free-jazz ensemble. Obomsawin’s expansive and nuanced practice models 21st century Indigeneity, challenging listeners’ complacency with the urgency of our times while comforting with lush– and at times haunting– harmonies.

Magdalena Abrego is a guitarist, composer, and teaching artist based in Hudson, New York. Influenced by free jazz and punk, Magdalena’s approach to her instrument playfully confronts tradition and embraces queer experimentalism. Her compositions have been described as an “unpredictable musical journey” (Boston Hassle), both “blissful and beautifully erratic” (Boston Compass), and NPR Music called her guitar tone “wooden, ancient and thick with mystic fuzz.” Magdalena presently serves as a faculty member in the Contemporary Musical Arts program at the New England Conservatory. Her expertise has garnered invitations to deliver guest lectures and provide guidance to ensembles at esteemed music institutions across the United States, including Berklee College of Music and Dartmouth College.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Mali & Magdalena ahead of the May 2nd duo performance of Deerlady in Madison at the Overture Center as part of the ‘Up Close’ series on the Capitol Theater stage. The three of us get into what is in store for folks in attendance as this normally more than 2, turns into a stripped down duo for this event. We talk challenges and possibilities of a their duo when working these songs live. We go seed to flower on the creation of ‘Greatest Hits’, their debut album and how they knew when Deerlady was born. The conversation around the songs and how they became complete after Magdalena put her unique skillset into action was simply opening, like getting a backstage peek into how the characters of a book really feel. The highlight for me was when the two of them pieces toGether a setlist after choosing one tune from ‘Greatest Hits’ and then following explanations of the choices were following up on the holistic vibe. This is music for those who feel at times when maybe feelings seem as if they have been shut off or down, but in truth, they are just finding their way. I am a fan.

Introducing Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek

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Born in Hamburg, Germany to Turkish parents, Derya Yıldırım grew up influenced by her family’s Anatolian background and the myriad of cultures in the city. Derya’s musical roots started at home playing folk music with family members. Her father pushed her to learn various instruments, beginning with the bağlama, a seven stringed Turkish lute. Then she picked up the guitar, piano, & saxophone. Although she is a multi-instrumentalist, Derya always felt drawn to the sound of the bağlama, finding a special magic within that sound. With her band Grup Şimşek’s forthcoming album Yarın Yoksa, which translates to ‘If There’s No Tomorrow’, Derya continues her journey revitalizing Anatolian folk music and instrumentation by infusing timeless melodies with a modern psychedelic flair. Ten years ago, while participating in a community theater project, Derya met French musicians Graham Mushnik & Antonin Voyant from Catapulte Records and formed the band Grup Şimşek with Helen Wells, a drummer from Cape Town, South Africa joining in 2021. While the band is truly international, they eschew the term ‘world music’, preferring instead ‘outernational’ which they say suggests a sound that’s more inclusive or “beyond borders.” DY&GS embody what defines Anatolian folk music, finding a groove and melody and then looking for the freedoms within. It’s this ethos that guides the band’s songwriting and the way they take on Anatolian folk standards. Respecting the roots of the music while entertaining their own spins on the music while preserving historic words & melodies…perhaps the soul changes just a little bit. While it’s easy to think of folk music as a music of the past, Derya insists it’s just as valid today since this music is so important as it remains the voice of the people, the minority, and the oppressed. After self-producing multiple albums, they signed with New York’s Big Crown Records in 2024 and teamed up with Grammy-nominated producer Leon Michels (El Michels Affair) for Yarın Yoksa. The new album embodies their balance of preservation and innovation across nine original compositions and three traditional folk songs. It is a record that will enchant any listener regardless of language barrier with Derya’s passion and authenticity front and center and music too moving to deny. Yarın Yoksa is sure to captivate the hearts and minds of all those who hear it, and just wait until you experience them play it live.

I had the pleasure of chatting it up with Derya & Helen of Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek shortly before the new album, Yarın Yoksa drops. This album delves into deeply personal pain and collective resistance with a central thread of loss, longing and hope for change running throughout. Derya also sings in her parents’ native Anatolian with lyrics that are poetic with symbolic language, metaphors & storytelling. Derya & Helen talk a bit about the album’s journey from beGinning to it’s almost peek into the ears of others. Together, Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek have created a memorable and emotional record that challenges genre while having broad appeal and a powerful message. None of this is lost on my ears, body and spirit as I listen and share. I feel the album’s haunts and romances. We talk about getting to work with Big Crown Records and the one and only Mr. Leon Michels. I really get into being educated a bit about the region and corners of the world on the birth certificate of this record, including a geography lesson and some extra insights into the bağlama. I even got to learn a few more bands to look up when Helen & Derya build a setlist around one of the new tracks.

Photo by: Philomena Wolflingseder

Kendra Morris Comes To Madison

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There is something completely out-of-time about Kendra Morris and her latest album ‘I Am What I’m Waiting For’ on Karma Chief Records. It combines powerhouse vocals w/arrangements that betray an extensive record collection & a whimsical instinct for a joyous kinda noise. It’s vibrant & varied and packed w/personality. She & Torbitt Schwartz, AKA Little Shalimar (Run The Jewels) wanted to make it feel like listeners cracked open the ooze in her head. Torbitt was the Co-Writer & Producer on the record. Kendra is also an accomplished visual artist & stop-motion animator, so it’s appropriate that the album takes a collagist approach, recombining all sorts of Rock-n-Roll ingredients, the sass & swagger of Ronnie Spector, The more acid-fried corners of The Nuggets Compilations, post-modern interpolations of mid-century Exotica music, the cracking snares & sugary Urbanity of ESG, all while offering moments of vulnerable insights from a life in pursuit of expression. She was a musically precocious child and, after playing in Florida bar bands, moved to New York to chase the dream. Thus began a 13-year stint bartending at the beloved lower East Side dive The Library, which thrust her directly into the heart of Manhattan’s fertile post-Strokes creative scene. Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe lived Upstairs, music journalist Marc Spitz was a regular, and touring acts would come through to hang after playing Bowery Ballroom. During those moments, Morris yearned to join those folks on the other side of the bar. All the while, she kept pursuing her music dreams. Her process was pure, 100% DIY. She never took no for an answer. After the dissolution of her first band, She Recorded 8-track demos and performed solo shows backed by cassette recordings of her own vocal harmonies. Through these shows she connected w/longtime producer Jeremy Page. It felt meant to be. She worked with Jeremy for the next 10+ years, they Worked together thru some of the most beautiful & hardest life things she’s ever gone thru. It was a fruitful partnership: she signed to Wax Poetics for the release of her 2012 debut ‘Banshee’ & 2013’S ‘Mockingbird’, self-released her 2016 EP ‘Babble’, & signed to Karma Chief for 2022’S ‘Nine Lives’. She’s hooked up with a great cast of collaborators, including DJ Premier, MF Doom, Ghostface Killah, & David Sitek. Despite her strong professional & personal relationship w/Page, Kendra knew that she needed to change up the energy for her next project. She connected w/Torbitt Schwartz and set about making ‘I Am What I’m Waiting For’. Kendra was eager to break out of old habits: she started playing guitar again live, pulled old songs out and reworked them, less-than-perfect takes were tolerated. To me, it feels like he risk has paid off.

I had the pleasure of catching up with Kendra as she sets out on a brief run with Marc Brousaard which brings her to Madison on March 16th to play the Majestic Theatre. We get into how that gig got put on her calendar and what that set of music will be like, ranging from her past albums into trying out some new music on us. You heard it riGht, NEW music. We also never had time to discuss her most recent release, “I Am What I’m Waiting For” so we go a little seed to flower on that and prompt a little double check on the video for Dominoes. I would have been remiss if this time around I neglected to get into a little conversation on the really cool track, ‘White Noise‘ she worked on with Peter Matson – this tune really collides well with how she makes a little magic every time we hear a new thing and should be heard by everyone at least once. Ready…GO!

The Magic Of Marcia Ball

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50+ years have passed in a flash for pianist/songwriter/vocalist Marcia Ball. The 2018 Texas State Musician Of The Year has won worldwide fame & countless fans for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse party every time she takes the stage. Born in Orange, Texas and raised in Vinton, Louisiana, her deep Acadian heritage and a lifetime of absorbing Gulf Coast rhythm & blues is evident in her original songs and the classics she chooses to cover. This has made her a one-of-a-kind favorite with music lovers all over the world. With each new release, her reputation as a profoundly soulful singer, a boundlessly talented pianist and a courageous, inventive songwriter continues to grow. Her love of the road has led to years of soul-satisfying performances at festivals, concert halls & clubs. Marcia grew up in a family whose female members all played piano and she began taking lessons at age 5, playing old Tin Pan Alley and popular music tunes from her grandmother’s collection. But it wasn’t until she was 13 that Marcia discovered the power of soul music. One day in 1962, she sat amazed as Irma Thomas performed on a show at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans and delivered the most spirited & moving performance the young teenager had ever seen. A few years later she attended Louisiana State University and after dropping out to explore the brave new hippie world of the late 1960s, she was invited to try out for a blues-based rock band called Gum. She made the cut and her future was set. In 1970, she left Baton Rouge for San Francisco. Her car broke down in Austin, and while waiting for repairs she fell in love with the city and decided to stay. It wasn’t long before she was performing in local clubs with a band called Freda And The Firedogs, which attracted many musicians & significant media attention to Austin. It was around this time that she discovered Professor Longhair she knew she had found her direction. When Freda And The Firedogs broke up in 1974, Ball launched her solo career and began touring outside of Texas & Louisiana. She signed with Capitol Records in 1977, debuting with the country-rock album Circuit Queen. As she honed her own sound, she released 6 critically acclaimed titles on the Rounder Records label during the 1980s & 1990s. In 1990, Ball, collaborating with Angela Strehli & Lou Ann Barton, recorded the hugely successful Dreams Come True on the Antone’s label. At the end of 1997, Marcia finished work on a similar “three divas of the blues” project for Rounder, this time in the distinguished company of Tracy Nelson and her longtime inspiration, Irma Thomas. The CD, Sing It!, was released in 1998 and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Marcia Ball has appeared many times on national TV over the years, including the PBS special In Performance At The White House with B.B. King & Della Reese, Austin City Limits & HBO’s Treme. She performed in Piano Blues, the film directed by Clint Eastwood included in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues series which aired on PBS television nationwide in 2003. Marcia also appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman w/The New Orleans Social Club, where she helped to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she had a role in the independent film Angels Sing starring Harry Connick, Jr. & Lyle Lovett & Willie Nelson. Ball joined Alligator Records in 2001 with the release of the critically acclaimed Presumed Innocent. The CD won the 2002 Blues Music Award for Blues Album Of The Year. Her follow-up, So Many Rivers, was nominated for a Grammy Award, and won the 2004 Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year as well as the coveted Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year award. Her next release, Live! Down The Road, released in 2005, also garnered a Grammy nomination, as did 2008’s Peace, Love & BBQ. She holds 11 Blues Music Awards, 10 Living Blues Awards, and 5 Grammy Award nominations. 2010’s Grammy-nominated Roadside Attractions and 2014’s The Tattooed Lady And The Alligator Man successfully grew her fan base even further. She has been inducted into both the Gulf Coast Music Hall Of Fame & the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame and the Texas State legislature named her the official 2018 Texas State Musician. In 2018, Marcia was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. And she kept on traveling down the road to the next gig…

I had the pleasure of catching up with the legendary pianist/singer/songwriter ahead of her heading back to Madison for a gig at The Bur Oak on March 5th. Marcia and I get into a bit of what that show will be like, with some of that good ol’ rockin’ and rollin’ being at the center. We talk about her love of Madison and how much she enjoys being here, musically and otherwise, including her working with a staple here, The Jimmys (with whom she’ll be hanging and playing with down in Jamacia before heading here). We get into her passion for Irma Thomas, and how much seeing her early on changed her life, and then they worked toGether on a few occasions. How dreamy?! For me, it is always nice to talk about new music and Marcia drooped a little knowledge this way that there in fact, is some of that heading our way. YES!!! While new music is usually a big part of my thanG, so is the give-back. Marcia is doing her part as well with the HOMES initiative, providing financial housing assistance for aging musicians in need. So I would have been remiss not to shine a little light on these fantastic efforts.

A Dream For Cello And Sitar

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For some time now, I have been sampling a few moments of a project that family to the proGram, Janet Schiff had been thinking on and working through. It was a long distance, international dialogue between someone she had never officially met. We spoke on the tapestry that could be. Finally the project got thing wings it deserved and was released into the world. Janet of course, plays the cello. We have had her on the program to discuss some solo work and also with the beloved nineteen thirteen. But this new collaboration was a stretch she had never fully explored before, working with a sitar master in India to create that new bridge of togetherness that formed a healing creation. In our discussion, we learn how she and Ramprapanna Bhattacharya first found each other online and formed a friendship. As music does, that original handshake turned into a ‘hey why don’t we’ and within time a raga was born with sitar being sent over the webs of the internet. The cello parts were created with distinct numbers in mind, adjustments were needed, and what was once a track to be, turned into an EP’s worth of unity, combining the earthly sound of sitar with the looping of many a cello textured to a new mosaic – one that people can easily chill put to, or find their yoga space with or just be deep in or out of the many of this oneness. ‘A Dream For Cello And Sitar’ was born on December 22nd, which is Ramprapanna’s birthday and I for one, am proud to announce it has shown up!

A Dream for Cello and Sitar · Janet Schiff Ft. Ramprapanna Bhattacharya

Not Very Motorcycle by Heather The Jerk

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Well, it is one of my favorite times of the times. Madison’s own Heather The Jerk has new music out to help make the days go by a little easier. The eight songs are quick to the ear, but spend a lot of time in my mind – easily being brought back up due to catchy choral imprints and quick-witted lyrics, I just want to scream them all out into the world. We learn straight-away that even though the title is a little misleading, by definition, this album is VERY motorcycle. You don’t have to take it from me either, since I have known this Jerk for a lifetime, take it from one Mr. Henry Rollins, who not only got this new album, but all the other music Heather the Jerk has put out and he airs it over the world wide web on his radio proGram. Check it here. We dive a little into how these tunes came together, we round off the band’s introductions and talk about a couple of tracks as if they were friends. There was a recent tape release part too here in Madison at Mickey’s Tavern and from the sounds of it, there were many people leased with the new music and the scene. Maybe go here and order the music yourself to see what all the Henry Rollins’s hub bub is all about. He oughta know.

Inside The Flow of Sa-Roc

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Sa-Roc grew up in Southeast D.C., at the height of the crack era, with neighborhoods plagued by poverty & disaffection. Her early experiences shaped her understanding of the world around her, deepened her emotional sensitivity and cemented a social consciousness that would later feature heavily within her work. She was born three-months premature and didn’t make a sound during the first fourteen months of her life. This struggle to find a voice, both literally and creatively, would later be critical in shaping her lyrical expression. Sa-Roc is arguably one of the most vibrant MCs in the world today. Her crisp articulation, fiery delivery, and her elevated & insightful lyricism has often placed her within the same conversation of some of Hip Hop’s most notable artists. There was no lack of early influences; she was raised by an artist father and an avid reader for a mother who would expose their young children to black writers, musicians & performers. She was raised on everything from the syncopated rhythms of hometown Go-Go acts like the Rare Essence & the Backyard band, to the prophetic poetry of Gil Scott Heron & Nikki Giovanni. It was the work of writers like these and more that helped Sa-Roc foster a love for language & writing and while still young, she began to pen her own poetry & short stories. She attended the Sankofa Institute, a Pan African centered school where her writing, social & creative expression was nurtured by Hasinatu Camara, an educator & civil rights activist. Camara would introduce Sa-Roc to close friends like Kwame Ture (f.k.a. Stokely Carmichael) MutaBaruka, and Haile Gerima. It was through these personal encounters that she began to see how artistic expression could be used as a tool to educate, inspire, & create change, a set of principles that she continues to live by. Sa-Roc was on the verge of graduating from Howard University as a biology major but decided to leave college and, D.C. for Atlanta. It was in THE ATL where she was introduced to famed DJ & producer, Sol Messiah. Inspired by one of the acts he was working with, Sa-Roc decided to record some of her poetry & rhymes to his beats. The result was her first EP, Astral Chronicles which dropped in 2008. She quickly began to gain recognition within the cultural & activist community in Atlanta, performing at social justice & political prisoner fundraisers, and other community based events. Still the full breadth of her artistic expression didn’t arrive until later that year when a surprise introduction at a Mutulu Shakur benefit concert thrusted her on stage for the very first time. Sa-Roc had finally found the full range of her voice and there was no looking back. Her powerful performances, metaphysical lyrics, and skills as an emcee, quickly caught the attention of the independent Hip Hop community in Atlanta. In an effort to maximize her momentum, as well as continually sharpen her skills, Sa-Roc & Sol Messiah continued to release a strong series of collaborative projects between 2008-2014. She also performed at the historic Zulu Nation 40th anniversary event, a performance which led to her gaining the attention of some of Hip Hop’s most respected pioneers. Sa-Roc was making waves as an emcee with notable stage presence and a prolific output — by 2014 she had dropped a stunning 8 projects in 6 years. Black Thought even pulled her on stage at A3C to perform an acapella verse. This led to several opportunities to open for The Roots as well as future creative collaborations w/Black Thought. She has opened for the likes of Common, Jay Electronica, and has shared the stage with legends such as Rakim, De La Soul, & Talib Kweli. She continued to write prolifically & tour with her peers/colleagues. In addition to her music career, Sa-Roc is a health and wellness advocate and public speaker, having led Hip Hop workshops and lectures both nationally and internationally. She is also an ambassador for Hip Hop is Green, an organization that uses the power and influence of Hip Hop music and culture to expose and educate underserved communities about the benefits of plant-based eating. Her Rhymesayers debut album, ‘The Sharecropper’s Daughter’, the title of which pays homage to her father’s experience growing up sharecropping tobacco, is in Sa-Roc’s own words “a sonic reflection on the generational inheritance of trauma and triumph that shapes our humanity and influences the way we see the world.” At a time where people all around the globe are calling for social change, Sa-Roc is an MC whose energy & conscious lyrics are here to shake up the rap game and remind us all that Hip Hop was always about giving a voice to the people.

I had the privilege of catching up with Sa-Roc ahead to her event in Madison on December 5th at the Union Theater’s Play Circle. The Union is going to change the landscape a little in this setting to make it more of a club vibe as part of the Black Box Sessions celebration of Hip Hop. We get deep into what an intimate gathering together will be like, and what the hope is for all of us in attendance when we walk away from this experience. We get a chance to learn more insightful observations from her latest single, ‘Amazing Grace’ and where this lies in the heart & ears of those who tune in. I could not forget to thank her for the full body experience that is ‘The Sharecropper’s Daughter’ and just how relevant it feels today – so we tap into the possible reasons why that could be. And no convo with her could feel complete without sharing in the energy and collaborative execution between her and Sol Messiah. Word cannot describe how excited I am for my mind’s mind to be a part of this event (and the idea that there’s a new album in the works get dropped on us to).

Fun Starts With SistaStrings

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SistaStrings is a incredibly dynamic musical duo comprised of dynamic artists and sisters, Chauntee and Monique Ross, whose exceptional talent and versatility has made a profound impact on multiple music scenes. With their unique blend of classical training, heartfelt and heart-shared soulful melodies, and contemporary, even unique sounds, SistaStrings have established themselves as a formidable force within the an ever-widening music community. The duo was recently voted “best instrumentalists” for the Americana Music Associations 2023 honors. Born and raised in nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chauntee and Monique discovered their love for music at a extremely young age. Growing up in a musically inclined family, the sisters were exposed to a diverse range of genres and instruments. Chauntee found her calling as a violinist, while Monique ended up developing her skills as a cellist. Together, they embarked on a remarkable journey, fusing their classical training with their deep-rooted love for Rhythm and Blues, hip-hop, and gospel. As members of Brandi Carlile’s touring band, SistaStrings have performed at iconic venues such as Madison Square Garden, The Kennedy Center, Newport Folk Festival and even Saturday Night Live. They have performed with an eclectic array of artists such as Joni Mitchell, Ed Sheeran, Maggie Rogers, Margo Price, Allison Russell & Jason Isbell.

Sometimes when the phone gets picked up to start a conversation with artists, I immediately feel like we’ve done this before and any nerves just disappear. This was one of those times. I had a really great time chatting with Chauntee and Monique ahead of their November 21st event at the Stoughton Opera House. We talked about the way the event will shape up, with the music, the stories and the shared emotions all interconnected in the community of it all. I wanted to walk in their shoes during some very cool happenings. So we got into what’s been going on. The first time I wanted to tie their laces tight was the amazing experience (I can hardly even imagine being a part of), being able to play rare instruments at the Library of Congress. Say what?? Oh yes! This leads to all the feelings one could possibly have before a single event. They get time to name drop working with legends like Joni Mitchell, Elton John and Chaka Khan. We talk about the inspiration and friendship they’ve been able to foster with collaborator Peter Mulvey before and after their move to Nashville. Playing with friend of the program Allison Russell led to touring with Brandi Carlile and the hits have just kept on coming. It would be hard to find two better people to get to have these a part of their life’s stories. So we discuss what it is about these collaborative experiences of multiple genres that allows them to ‘bring themselves’ to it. Then we laugh about ‘that time networking in New York’. I am so looking forward to the next time the phone rings and it is SistaStrings catching up with all the next first times they’ve shared in.

All Species Parade by Jenny Scheinman

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Jenny Scheinman, acclaimed violinist & composer, for many years a stalwart of the New York jazz and creative music scenes, returned to her native Humboldt County, California in 2012. There she has continued her artistic evolution. For years, Scheinman nursed the idea of a musical homage to Humboldt, in particular the area known as the Lost Coast, a remote, earthquake and mudslide-prone region of coastal northern California, where she was raised. She considered the project from many angles. She wrote a song cycle based on the “crusty characters” from her hometown and sketched out a surrealist multimedia project based on the county’s namesake, Alexander Von Humboldt. She collaborated with filmmaker Ai Aiwane on a video installation about the Mattole River (Cojo Come Home) and immersed herself in the sounds & cultural history of the region, with hopes of conjuring, in music, the extraordinary diversity of life in the Pacific Northwest. Her epic new release, ‘All Species Parade‘, is the result of these meditations. The all-original program is brought to life over the course of a double album, by pianist Carmen Staaf, guitar icons Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, & Julian Lage, and the revered rhythm team of bassist Tony Scherr & drummer Kenny Wollesen. It was recorded by Eli Crews, mixed by Tucker Martine, and mastered by Greg Calbi. Though ‘All Species Parade’ offers a brimming 72 minutes of music, it only contains 10 songs, several of which are over 11 minutes long, and 3 of which (“Jaroujiji,” “The Sea Also Rises” & “All Species Parade”) comprise an Ellington-inspired suite that clocks in at 20 minutes. This long-form approach is a departure for Scheinman, whose 10 previous albums tend toward a more concise, song-like aesthetic. Jenny’s playing is radiant, soulful, stamped with jazz vernacular and old-time fiddling tradition and anchored by her superb lyrical poise & masterful technique. In addition to her extensive work in jazz & improvised music with Jason Moran, Brian Blade, Ron Miles, Allison Miller, Vinicius Cantuaria and many more, she has toured and recorded with songwriting legends such as Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn, Robbie Fulks, Rodney Crowell, Lou Reed, Ani DiFranco & Joni Mitchell. She is featured on the original cast recording of Anais Mitchell’s hit musical Hadestown, and has written several feature length movie scores, including the forthcoming Avenue Of The Giants.

I had the opportunity to catch up with Jenny on release day of this epic tale, ‘All Species’ Parade’ out now on Royal Potato Family and I quickly shared just how this album made me feel (Mycelium or yourcelium?). We got pretty deep into the how this album came together from the garden to the table, including dissecting a track or two and certainly getting into the involvement of that 3 headed guitar monster. Jenny has 2 friends of the program, Mr. Julian Lage & Mr. Bill Frisell as well as Nels Cline on this album, all have a place and reason to share the story as it goes down. We touch on just how and why the song length on this album increased for a few of the tunes, and what memory/comment did she old with her that kept her ear/mind open for just the moment to let things spill over. The album is an incredible story that as a listener, I found myself being welcomed in and not truly wanting to leave until I soaked it all in, thought about it and then wanted to share.

photo by: Kory Thibeault