Lizzie No

• Americana

On the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, Frederick Douglas’ words come to mind: What, to the slave, is the 4th of July?

The true story of America started long before 1776, with European colonization, land theft, genocide, and slavery. Throughout it all: rebellion. Native rebellion, African rebellion, Caribbean rebellion. The American canon as it exists tells the story of white landowners and their dreams, often in opposition to the land and its original stewards.

But working people will always make do.

Outlaws’ Almanac is a compilation album that melds folk, Americana, roots, and more to respond to the occasion of this nation’s anniversary, and to be of use to the American people. The album finds its roots in slave rebellion, in protest songs, and in traditional tunes. It roars into the present with full-throated visions for a better future.

Revolution is inevitable, but it’s not a faceless force: revolution is made up of individuals and groups choosing to leave the known behind in favor of an unknown future. It’s a call to be ordinarily and extraordinarily courageous, and to envision something beyond the intoxicant that is proximity to whiteness and wealth.

Are you one of the outlaws? Do you see yourself in these stories? Do you hear yourself in these voices? Are our hopes and yearnings one with yours? Do you want to be part of building the new world? We are your comrades.

Outlaw history is never canonized, yet outlaws are the stewards and protectors of our collective humanity. They are the breakers and the re-builders, the providers of free breakfast in schools, the hands stitching the AIDS quilt, the protectors of our water, the growers of our food, the defenders of our right to labor and therefore live.

Open the almanac; begin at any page. A calendar is never wrong, no matter what one thinks or believes. When it’s time for rebellion, the rebellion will begin. The point is the outlaws. It always has been. The almanac is just a tool.

As Douglass said: I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope.

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Outlaws’ Almanac features: Kapali Long, Zachary Hamilton, Kasey Anderson, Lizzie No, Will Greene, Tray Wellington, Nick Shoulders, Brandi Waller-Pace, Nick Rapley, Kimaya Diggs, A.J. Haynes, Eric Ambel, Olivia Ellen Lloyd, Kaïa Kater, and Nathan Evans Fox

Executive Producer: Lizzie No

Producer/Engineer: Nick Rapley

Mastering Engineer: Jesse Cannon

Additional Engineering: Eric Ambel, A.J. Haynes, Will Greene, Zachary Hamilton, Kapali Long, Kimaya Diggs

Album Art: Mia Kersten

Publicity: Kimaya Diggs

Radio: Ronda Chollock

Financed by RuralOrganizing.org Education Fund.

Kimaya Diggs

• Jazz
• R&B
• Singer/Songwriter
• Soul

KIMAYA DIGGS is a musician and writer, born and based in the rolling hills of Western Massachusetts. The sounds of her childhood included Emily Dickinson, Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, 70’s soul, and songs around the table with her family.

A fourth-generation artist, Kimaya grew up singing with her sisters, and found her voice across the facets of neo-soul, jazz, and R&B. She’s crafted a genre-defying style that celebrates the power and dexterity of her voice. Slippery and acrobatic at times, earthy and urgency-filled at others, her voice has been called “smoothly captivating” by the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Her songwriting beautifully captures the spectrum of her vocal range, and the singular control she has over her instrument.

Her debut album Breastfed (2018) is a bittersweet chronicle of growth towards the light. Produced by LuxDeluxe bassist Jacob Rosazza, the LP features lush string arrangements and moving harmonies. The single How Am I Sposta Know placed in top 10 in 93.9 The River’s Best New Songs of 2018.

Her EP One More Holiday (2021) builds on her jazz roots for a classic Christmas sound. The title track, about the death of her mother, “captures the way that the season of joy can also intensify the feeling of loss… during the holiday season,” wrote the Greenfield Recorder. She launched the album with a Christmas-themed variety night in her native Northampton.

As a writer, Diggs’ personal essays, short fiction, and poetry has been published widely, earning her a Callaloo Fellowship in Poetry in 2017. In 2020, she headlined the Emily Dickinson Museum’s Tell It Slant poetry festival, performing live from Emily Dickinson’s historic bedroom.

More recently, to commemorate Black History Month in 2022, she released a cover of Solange’s “Cranes in the Sky,” a song that documents a journey towards self-love. Her single They Can Say What They Like, released in 2021 on A-Side B-Side Records, written to benefit Cancer Connection, Inc., raising over $2000 for the organization. It placed #6 in 93.9 The River’s Best New Songs of 2021. Her sophomore album is expected in early 2023.

Kapali Long

• Blues
• Country
• Rock

His songwriting and guitar playing are deeply rooted in his experiences, focusing on authentic emotional expression and storytelling and his performances are “Music Church,” delivering truth, power, and the healing of music to lift spirits and provide relief.
Kapali “Leadfoot” Long is a Native Hawaiian, “Hawaiiana-Americana, Country, and Blues,” singer songwriter who is making big waves in the Country Music industry in Nashville where he now resides. His songwriting and guitar playing are deeply rooted in his experiences, focusing on authentic emotional expression and storytelling and his performances are “Music Church,” delivering truth, power, and the healing of music to lift spirits and provide relief.

Kapali is not only a passionate singer/songwriter with a five octave voice, but he is also a highly skilled guitarist, who is known for his slide and lap steel playing. Kapaliʻs Hawaiian roots will take you straight to the origins of “Kika Kila”, or Lap Steel, where Kapali was mentored under master steel guitarist, Alan Akaka. In 2016, Kapali’s guitar playing caught the attention of Gibson Guitars and he has been a signed Gibson artist ever since.

Kapali comes from a family with a long Hawaiian musical history and music was in his life since he could remember. He is the nephew of Hawaiian musical greats Buddy Fo and Mikilani Fo, and his grandparents were well-known musicians and performers also, who raised him with the mindset of music and ʻohana (family) from Waimanalo to Punchbowl, where they played Country, Blues, Bluegrass, and Hawaiian music together.

If you follow Kapali’s musical roots they will lead you to connections with so many musical trailblazers, including; Joseph Kekuku, Jerry Byrd, Hank Sr., Ry Cooder, Chet Atkins, Gabby Pahinui, and many more.

Known for his soulful performances Kapali has opened for Artists like legend Robert Earl Keen, Ron Pope, and Howie Day. Kapali has played guitar with Caroline Liar, Nikki Lane and was slated to be the guitarist for Muddy Waters Son Mojo Morganfield before his untimely passing. He has also played at major venues and festivals from; South By Southwest, Echo Park Rising in Los Angeles, Nikki Lane’s Horseshoe Stage at Stagecoach (1st Native Hawaiian to play Stagecoach), Gibson Garage Fest, WhiskeyJam (Nashville), The Bluebird Cafe (Nashville), 3rd & Lindsley, Grand Ole Echo (The Echo), Lancaster Roots & Blues, The Troubadour, Whiskey Jam & many more.

Olivia Ellen Lloyd

• Americana
• Country

Olivia Ellen Lloyd will try anything once. From flight attendant school in Dallas to producing theater in New York City and teaching in Guatemala, Lloyd sought an adventurous life, but struggled to find a greater sense of purpose. That is– until she found her way back to music. Lloyd channels her restless spirit into songs that pay homage to her Appalachian roots while charting fresh territory for a sound that is uniquely her own. Her debut album, Loose Cannon, has been streamed over 1 million times while Olivia has been crossing the country playing shows, winning songwriting contests (like Kerrville in 2023) and generally eating life down to the rind.

Heavily influenced by country, folk, and indie rock, Lloyd’s sound combines the rooted sounds of her traditional Appalachian upbringing with the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants nature of her current life. She is inspired by the rich sounds of New York City, the peaceful quiet of her small hometown, and everything in between.