Musicians, songwriters, and husband and wife, Rachael and Luke Price are bringing back the feel-good vibes of classic Americana. On Love, DEAN’s self-titled debut, they’ve handcrafted a musical mosaic from vintage soul, Motown, old-time music, gospel, folk and neo-soul. The self-titled album is themed around love and community, and coming of age milestones. It’s vibrant, it’s personal, and it’s for everyone.
Artist Category: Soul
Jill McCracken
Jill McCracken (they/she) is a queer singer/songwriter making emotionally raw retro soul music. Heartfelt passion and vocal power remain front and center whether it’s a boisterous full band performance or an intimate solo set. McCracken’s influence has resonated with their home city of Boston, earning consistent Boston Music Award nominations over the past five years (Singer/Songwriter, Vocalist of the Year), clinching a New England Music Award (Soul/R&B act of the year), and being regarded as “a force to reckon with in the Boston Music Community” (Allston Pudding).
Dwight & Nicole
Genre defying DWIGHT + NICOLE can trace their musical roots through blues, R&B, and soul with a little roots rock, alternative, and Americana sprinkled in. DWIGHT + NICOLE have been Nominated for 10 Boston Music Awards, 10 New England Music Awards, and 11 Daisie awards, winning multiple “Band of the Year”, “Vocalist of the Year”, “Best Blues/R&B Band”, “Female Vocalist of the Year”, “Blues Act of the Year” and “Video of the Year”.
Ritcher and Nelson met in Boston, Massachusetts fresh out of college. Cutting their teeth on the local club circuit, they each fronted popular area bands, and discovered a shared obsession of soul & blues greats like the Staples Singers, Albert King, and Etta James. They began singing together and developed a close friendship that grew over time culminating in the formation of Dwight & Nicole. They started out as a duo with Dwight on electric guitar and Nicole on tambourine, stomping their feet for the beat and singing in harmony. After a move to Burlington VT, they met powerhouse drummer Ezra Oklan (Nicole Atkins, Elle King) and the group quickly formed a trio with Nelson picking up the bass. Now they also feature keyboard wizard Leon Campos.
With numerous releases under their belts, their most recent “The Jaguar, The Raven, and The Snake” just received the deluxe treatment in August of 2024, with the addition of the single, “Saying Goodbye.” Produced by acclaimed producer Joel Hamilton and recorded at his Studio G in Brooklyn and Ocean Sound in Giske, Norway throughout 2022. Album tracks feature the band with guests the Daptone Horns and Arkai Strings, amongst others.
“Dwight & Nicole are my favorite new band!” – MAVIS STAPLES
Antar Goodwin
An accomplished artist blending jazz, blues, and soul. Recently signed with Bigger Beast Records, Antar is following up his 2024 album “The Game” with a new single, set to release in early 2025. He’s toured internationally and collaborated with Sting, Lauryn Hill, and Wyclef Jean.
Sug Daniels
Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter blending folk, rock, and soul alternatives with messages of positivity and change. Her single “When I’m Gone” (Don Giovanni Records) garnered attention and opened new opportunities, including touring with The Black Opry and official showcases at SXSW. Sug’s debut studio album is set to release in the spring of 2025.
Mwalim Daphunkee Professor
Considered by critics and peers alike to be one of the contemporary masters of the oral tradition, MWALIM “DaPhunkee Professor” (Morgan James Peters) is a multi-award-winning composer, musician, theater artist, writer, and educator whose works span the mediums of sound recordings, books, plays, films, videos, and multimedia installations.
An accomplished composer, musician, and singer in the genres of jazz, soul, House Music, and Afrobeats, Mwalim s a three-time winner of the New England Urban Music Awards for Jazz, and is the writer and co-producer of The GroovaLottos six-time Grammy nominated album, “Ask Yo’ Mama”.
Coming from long family lines of West Indian/Bajan (Barbados) and Mashpee Wampanoag oral traditionalists, it was of little surprise that Mwalim would tell stories to his classmates in nursery school and kindergarten, or that he began winning awards for storytelling in the 7th grade, and city-wide short-story contests in high school. While in college, he began his career as a storyteller and spoken-word artist; interweaving storytelling with a life long love of music as a violist, pianist, percussionist, and singer. Playing Carnegie Hall before the age of 14 and -at 16 -becoming one of the youngest session players in EMI history- Mwalim’s story is a rich and multi-dimensional one. After completing his MS in Film Boston University he studied theater arts education and playwriting at New African Company in Boston. His plays began getting productions in Boston and after a reading at the 1999 National Black Theatre Festival, his plays and performances pieces began receiving productions throughout the USA and Canada as well as the UK and Caribbean.
Chris Walton
Chris Walton is a jack of all trades. Walton is a singer, songwriter, and producer based in Boston. He’s equally comfortable writing intimate introspective love songs or upbeat retro pop tracks, which is evident throughout his 2021 EP, Fade. He released his debut album, Ruminating Thoughts, in January 2023. This album is a culmination of his music up to this point, including recent releases “Soon” and “Cravin’,” which left fans eager to hear more from the chilled-out crooner. Inspired by the likes of Stevie Wonder, early John Mayer, and Daniel Caesar, Chris has created an album of smooth, jazz-kissed songs that tug at the heartstrings of listeners with effortless relatability on love and loss of love. Walton attended Berklee College of Music and is now a Professor of Songwriting at the very same institution.
Sandy Bailey
Sandy Bailey’s sound has been compared to a spectrum of acts, including Norah Jones, Patsy Cline, Susan Tedeschi, and Patti Smith – yet she possesses a sound all her own. Her latest recording, Daughter of Abraham, was released summer of 2023 on Red Parlor Records. The ten-song collection, expertly produced by Bailey, showcases her signature sound, but with a bolder, more idiosyncratic attention to detail. Incorporating elements of gospel blues, soul, and classic Americana, the depth of her songwriting stems from her life and identity as a biracial woman and single mother who abandoned a Pentecostal upbringing in favor of a life of art-making and rock and roll.
The new recording includes performances by acclaimed musicians; guitarist Ryan Hommel (Amos Lee), bassist and engineer Marc Seedorf (Dinosaur JR, Lou Barlow), and drummer Don McAulay (The Rolling Stones, Neil Young) as well as neighbors, parents, coworkers, and even Bailey’s kids. It’s an alluringly moody, genre-defying album, alternating in tone between the laid-back cool of Bonnie Raitt and the no-fucks-given fire of Joni Mitchell, tempered with moments of genuine, heartbreaking vulnerability. Daughter of Abraham is the sound of a woman living her life.
Solaya
Solaya is a young artist and producer based in Boston, Massachusetts. She first fell in love with music as a dancer in childhood, eventually gravitating towards songwriting and poetry as a primary art form. Growing up in a family of percussionists and singers, her natural influences came from folkloric Latin music styles like bomba y plena and rumba, and various West African forms. She was always inspired by R&B and neo-soul music growing up in Atlanta, and started to write in a way that combined these ideas. Working with her own family members to create this sound, Solaya has developed a unique lyrical flow and experimental production style that pays homage to her upbringing and her culture. She seeks to represent her home countries, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, to stay true to her identity, and to honor the new generation of Caribbeans making waves in the American music industry.
Curtis Stigers
Curtis Stigers drives his publicists crazy. For the past 30 years, the singer, songwriter, saxophonist and guitarist has been making records that confound those who try to categorize his music or put him in a box.
Curtis Stigers has had several top ten hits as a long-haired, blue-eyed soul singer and he’s written and sung an Emmy nominated TV theme song. He’s recorded a track for one of the biggest-selling pop albums of all time and he’s released nine critically-acclaimed, award-winning jazz albums. He’s played for presidents and princes and he’s appeared in two Seth MacFarlane movies about a foul-mouthed cuddly bear called Ted. He’s recorded thirteen studio albums and a live album singing Sinatra songs with a big band from Denmark. He’s toured with symphony orchestras, written songs with Carole King and duetted with Al Green, Shawn Colvin and Tom Jones.
Who is this guy?
Stigers’ success as a songwriter has included co-writing with the likes of legends like Carole King, Barry Mann and Beth Nielsen Chapman, and his songwriting talent also led to an Emmy nomination for co-writing and singing the theme song to the wildly successful TV series Sons Of Anarchy.
It is his rich singing voice, however—singular, balletic, and at turns both mournful and playful—that has landed him on records with the likes of Al Green, Shawn Colvin and Jackson Browne, in studios with venerated producers like Larry Klein, Danny Kortchmar, and Glen Ballard, and on stages and concert bills with pop and rock legends, including Eric Clapton, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Prince, Rod Stewart and The Allman Brothers Band, as well as jazz giants Nancy Wilson, Al Jarreau, Gerry Mulligan, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Chuck Mangione, Toots Thielmans, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Kurt Elling, Diana Krall, John Scofield, Larry Goldings and many more.
After being mentored in his early years by legendary jazz pianist Gene Harris, and by the revered jazz singer Mark Murphy, Stigers’ unique talent was recognized by music business impresario Clive Davis, who signed Stigers to a record deal after hearing him in a New York restaurant. A debut album sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide on the strength of self-penned hit singles like “I Wonder Why,” “You’re All That Matters to Me,” and “Never Saw a Miracle.” A year later, Stigers contributed a cover version of Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding” to The Bodyguard soundtrack, which has sold over 45 million copies worldwide. Multiple appearances on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Today Show and countless international TV shows, put Stigers directly in the spotlight of popular culture. Stigers also made cameo appearances in the movie comedies, Ted and Ted 2, written and directed by his friend, Seth MacFarlane.
During the pandemic, Curtis Stigers began a weekly internet livestream show called “Songs From My Kitchen” which he continues to present once a month with his four very cute dogs.
Born in Hollywood, raised in Boise, Idaho and transplanted to Manhattan, he now resides, between concert appearances, back in Idaho, where he’s proud to help raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for the Interfaith Sanctuary Homeless Shelter.
The latest Curtis Stigers album, This Life (February, 2022), is a self-produced look back at 30 years of songs, albums and concerts, featuring newly crafted versions of some of the biggest and best songs from his long, successful career.
