Naomi Westwater

• Americana
• Singer/Songwriter

Naomi Westwater (she/they) is a queer, Black-multiracial singer-songwriter and producer from Massachusetts. They weave in and out of Folk music, flirting with rock and jazz. Naomi holds a Master of Music in Contemporary Performance and Production from Berklee College of Music. She was nominated for a 2021 Boston Music Award for Best Singer-Songwriter. Naomi’s 2021 EP Feelings was featured in Under The Radar, WBUR, Vanyaland, WGBH, Allston Pudding, and The Bluegrass Situation.

Pamela Means

• Folk
• Singer/Songwriter

“Stark, defiant songs.” – New York Times

Pamela Means, singer-songwriter and jazz musician, is “one of the fiercest guitar players and politically-rooted musicians in the industry today,” (Curve Magazine) with her “insanely brilliant” (Press Herald, Portland ME) and “stark, defiant songs.” (New York Times)

Pamela Means is a Easthampton MA-based Out(spoken), Biracial, independent artist whose “kamikaze guitar style” and punchy provocative songs have worn a hole in two of her acoustic guitars. With razor wit, an engaging presence, elegant poetry, irresistible charm, plus jokes, Pamela Means’s “stark, defiant songs” (New York Times) set the status quo and the stage afire.

Pamela’s commitment to interrogating social ills was fostered by her unique childhood. “As the adopted daughter of a white mother and black father, I learned about dismantling systems of oppression from the inside out.” Pamela received her first guitar at the age of fourteen, just after her mother died of cancer, and it soon became Pamela’s primary vehicle for expression. It would also serve as a passport out of a life that consisted of poverty, foster homes, and the inner city life of hyper-segregated Milwaukee WI.

Pamela Means relocated to Boston, busked in the city subway and famed Harvard Square, founded her own record label and began touring. Pamela has since performed on three continents and across the country, gaining fans and rave reviews from Anchorage to Amsterdam, Sydney to Stockholm, San Francisco to Honolulu to New York, breaking album sales records at national festivals and sharing stages with Pete Seeger, Neil Young, Shawn Colvin, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Gil Scott-Heron, Adrian Belew, Violent Femmes, Holly Near and more. Means has also been the recipient of several nominations and music awards in multiple categories.

Pamela Means “exhibits a rare emotional fire in today’s folk world,” (Seven Days, Burlington VT) so much so that Ani DiFranco exclaimed, “you’ve got such a deep, deep groove, I can’t get out. And, I wouldn’t want to.” With Truth as ammunition, Pamela Means brings the fight for social justice and human dignity to the forefront of a new generation.

Melissa Ferrick

• Folk
• Singer/Songwriter

Melissa Ferrick is a Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University in the Music Industry Department at the College of Arts Media and Design. They’ve released seventeen albums over the last twenty-five years and has won numerous awards for songwriting, production, and performance. From 2013 – 2019, Melissa was an Associate Professor of Songwriting at Berklee College of Music. They hold an Ed.M from Harvard University.

Melissa is the named plaintiff of the class action lawsuit, Ferrick v. Spotify for willful infringement of copyright. Their publishing catalog is administered worldwide by the Raleigh Music Group.

Signed to Atlantic Records in 1992 at the age of 21, after opening up for Morrissey in the US and UK, they released their debut and sophomore albums on Atlantic before moving on to Independent label W.A.R. Records between 1996-1999. In 2000 Melissa launched the nationally distributed independent record label Right On Records.

Regarded in the industry and by their peers as one of the most prolific and hardworking artists in the business, Ferrick still tours regularly playing throughout North America. They have shared the stage with Morrissey, Joan Armatrading, Weezer, Tegan and Sara, Mark Cohen, Paul Westerberg, Bob Dylan, John Hiatt, Ani DiFranco, k.d.Lang, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, and many others.

Mint Green

• Indie Rock
• Pop

Ronnica was born and raised in Boston in the neighborhood of Dorchester. She started Mint Green with drummer Daniel Huang in 2015. After two EPs, Mint Green released their debut LP “All Girls Go To Heaven” in June of 2022 on Pure Noise Records and have since won a Boston Music Award for Rock Artist of the Year. Mint Green has toured all over the U.S. and the U.K. and most recently have performed at festivals such as Boston Calling and In Between Days Fest. Mint Green’s music hits the sweet spot between indie rock, pop, and alternative and speaks to the members of the rock community that are POC, queer, women, and non-men. Mint Green hopes to continue transcending physical borders and societal barriers with their unique and evolving sound.

Sasha Goodfriend

Sasha Goodfriend is a community organizer, curating feminist & queer experiences through partnerships with statewide government, community organizations & creatives alike. She works to advance this mission through her roles as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization for Women (Mass NOW), a community organizer consultant with the Boston Tenant Coalition and Our Bodies Ourselves and serves as a board member with the Transgender Emergency Fund and member of Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. Sasha graduated with a B.A. from the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University majoring in International Relations with a minor in Women, Gender & Sexuality studies and received her Masters in Public Policy from Simmons University.