Tianna Esperanza is a singer/songwriter who embodies a depth of talent and heart well beyond her years. Her music has been described as having hints of Sade, Public Enemy, and Gil Scott-Heron. Tianna is known for her personally inspired lyrics with roaring protest undertones, making for a powerful and unforgettable experience.
Artist Category: Singer/Songwriter
Sam Luke Chase
A native of Scituate, MA, south shore based artist Sam Luke Chase is a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter who writes heart-on-your-sleeve roots-based acoustic pop songs. Whether solo, or with his band, Sam’s raspy baritone, acoustic guitar chops and quality songwriting help Chase standout among a sea of contemporary songwriters.
Chase has recorded three studio albums, the latest of which – Lift Me Up – showcases his musical abilities by playing all the instrumentation and is entirely self produced. It is a solo record in the truest sense. Chase released a new single called “Vortex” in 2018 that debuted on Boston’s 92.5 The River.
2018 also saw Chase appear at the prestigious Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Showcase in Hillsdale, NY as well as a MainStage appearance at Black Bear Americana Festival in Groton, CT. He then teamed up with the Berkshire-based outfit The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow for a show at The Linda (WAMC Performing Arts Center) in Albany, NY.
A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Chase maintains a heavy playing schedule in the northeast from Cape Cod up to Portland, ME. Recently he has started performing as the Sam Luke Chase Trio in addition to his solo sets.
Joan Shelley
Joan Shelley is a songwriter and singer who draws inspiration from traditional and traditionally-minded performers from her native Kentucky, as well as those from Ireland, Scotland, and England, but she’s not a folksinger. Her disposition aligns more closely with that of, say, Roger Miller, Dolly Parton, or Tom T. Hall, who once explained—simply, succinctly, in a song—“I Witness Life.” Her latest release is the 5-song Mood Ring EP. It was praised by The New York Times, MOJO and Pitchfork.
Maya de Vitry
Nashville-based artist, songwriter, and producer Maya de Vitry is enjoying some hard-won creative flourishing. “I’m not just making different music now. It feels like I’m breathing in a different atmosphere,” she says, reflecting on her evolution from acclaimed roots-Americana band The Stray Birds to her current solo journey. Produced by Maya de Vitry and mixed by Grammy-award winning engineer Justin Francis (Madison Cunningham), The Only Moment (out July 12, 2024) is de Vitry’s 4th full-length record and is an unabashed blend of indie folk, indie rock, and indie pop, with elements of Americana and alt-country.
Originally from Lancaster, PA, de Vitry’s 2019 debut Adaptations earned accolades from Rolling Stone Country, NPR Music, and No Depression and she has since attracted an organic and devoted following on the strength of her recordings and her live performances. She sings with a magnetic and hard-won sense of purpose that has landed her support tours in North America and Europe for artists like The Wood Brothers, Aoife O’Donovan, John Craigie, and Mighty Poplar. Her songwriting appears on albums by Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and Steve Poltz, and her versatility as a multi-instrumentalist and harmony singer has enriched numerous Nashville projects. Despite her seemingly vigorous creative pace, the recording process for The Only Moment was unhurried. “It’s like I was making a long-exposure photograph, but with music,” she explains, having left the metaphorical shutter open for nearly three years to allow the songs themselves the opportunity to breathe. “I completely shelved this record for months at a time, on several occasions,” she recalls. “Each time I came back to it, I heard new possibilities. In today’s music industry, there’s pressure to share our process or turn it into ‘content’. But I treasured keeping this record to myself and slow-cooking these songs on the back burner.” The resulting album is a refreshing testament to the generative simmering that underpins periods of reinvention and growth.
Lisa Koch
Daft. Demented. #SNORT. Picture Tina Fey meets Bette Midler with Joan Jett guitar chops… and you’ve got Seattle’s Lisa Koch.
An irreverent lez singer/comedian, and sober chick, Koch (“Coke”) is a deliciously twisted mix of comedy, theater, and tunes. With 5 solo recordings, she was a member of loony sketch comedy duo, Dos Fallopia (My Breasts are Out of Control, Ham for the Holidays), and an alumnus of cult quartet Venus Envy (I’ll Be A Homo for Xmas). She has shared the stage with Steve Martin, Janis Ian, Lily Tomlin, The Indigo Girls, Mouths of Babes, Kate Clinton, and more. Koch has been featured on Olivia and LOGO, is the composer of Off-Broadway musical “27, Rue de Fleurus”, and is proud to report that one of her songs has actually been sampled by Jay-Z. Lisa brings to the stage her guitar, her wacky songs, and her musings on being a woman… from middle age to mammograms to singing vulvas.
For a sample of Lisa’s comedy, check out a clip from her live show HERE.
Susan Cattaneo
With her powerful voice, captivating melodies and finely-crafted lyrics, Susan Cattaneo is one of Boston’s most respected singer-songwriters. Combining vivid storytelling with a modern songwriter’s spin. Susan’s music blends folk, rockand blues with hint of country. She likes to call it, “New England Americana”.
Susan’s latest album, All is Quiet is an acoustic tour de force recorded remotely during the pandemic with acclaimed guitarists Duke Levine and Kevin Barry. The album charted #2 and was a top 25 Album of 2022on the FAI Folk Radio chart.
Susan is also an in demand co-writer, with songs on albums by many of Boston’s favorite musicians, including Dennis Brennan, Mark Erelli and Jenee Halstead.
Susan won the CT Folk Festival andwas nominated for Singer Songwriter of the Year at the 2022 Boston Music Awards. She has been a finalist or winner in the country’s most prestigious songwriting and music contests including being a three-time Kerrville New Folk finalist. Her 2016 double album The Hammer and The Heartcharted #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and yielded a folk radio #1 single and top 10 album.
“Cattaneo’s solo songs have roots that run deep under the earth from Memphis to Nashville to Appalachia (pick a random song from her catalog and odds are it would be an ideal cover for Bonnie Raitt or Carrie Underwood or Steve Earle).”–Jed Gottlieb, The Boston Herald
Ernest Troost
“Wow. . . . Lyrically, he’s going to knock you flat with one punch. Killer stuff throughout, this is the work of an undeniable talent taking it to the next level of the game. You just might not hear Americana the same way again after you take a byte of this. Easily one of the best ‘folk’ albums to come out this year. . . . Check it out.” –Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Ernest Troost is an Emmy award-winning composer of scores for films and television, including the cult-classic TREMORS and HBO’s award-winning LESSON BEFORE DYING. He is also a recipient of the Kerrville New Folk award for his songwriting. His evocative style combines folk and Piedmont-blues-style guitar picking with timeless stories and colorful character portrayals drawn from the American past and present. His new album, O LOVE, has been a hit with fans and critics alike. “Troost is a brilliant Americana songwriter . . . making pensive, sometimes snarling, Steve Earle-ish, lyrically-driven Americana . . . with inspired playing and smartly judicious arrangements. Fans of Steve Earle and Jeffrey Foucault will find an awful lot to like in Troost’s brooding, intense songcraft.” –Delarue, New York Music Daily
In addition, he has composed and produced two critically praised albums of songs for Judy Collins, setting the words of poets like Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson, and Gertrude Stein.
Ariana Gillis
Hailing from just outside Toronto, Ariana Gillis began taking singing lessons at the age of six, but she was hardly thrilled. So, her father encouraged her to write her own material and learn to play the guitar. An award-winning songwriter himself, he gave her invaluable insight into the process.
However, music’s importance didn’t really become apparent until her final year of high school, when she came down with double pneumonia. She missed three months of school, and couldn’t sing properly for about a year. “Within that span of time, I realized I needed music. I craved it.”
With renewed focus, Gillis made an immediate impact on the Niagara music scene, winning Songwriter of the Year at the 2009 Niagara Music Awards, followed by Female Vocalist and Album of the Year in 2010. She networked at music conferences, which led to a quick, two-song performance for Dave Marsh in a stairwell in Memphis, following the release of her second album, Forget Me Not. Marsh then played Gillis on his Sirius XM radio show, which caught the attention of Elton John’s songwriting partner.
Canada’s Ariana Gillis was creating excitement from the earliest stages of her career. But after sustaining a serious concussion in 2015, Ariana believed that she would never be able to write and perform music again. Well, she’s proving herself wrong, as after an extended period of recovery she’s back with new music currently being recorded with multi- GRAMMY® Award-winning producer, Joel Moss and CFMA Producer of the Year, David Gillis.
Melissa Weikart
Melissa Weikart is a vocalist, pianist, composer and educator based in Boston, MA. After graduating from Tufts in 2016 (B.A. Music and Spanish), she pursued her Master’s degree in Contemporary Improvisation at New England Conservatory, where she studied with Carla Kihlstedt, Anthony Coleman, Dominique Eade, and Hankus Netsky.
Melissa co-founded Students Advocating for Gender Equality at NEC, and was awarded an Entrepreneurial Musicianship grant to recompose the album Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys for an all-female ensemble. In December 2017, she released her debut EP “Coffee,” and she is currently working on a full-length album.
Max Shakun
Max Shakun (of the folk rock band Parsonsfield) offers a witty twist on the classic singer/ songwriter/ indie acoustic set. Unafraid to traverse his effortlessly smooth falsetto, Max will have you both grooving in your seat, and contemplating the more intricate parts of life.
