My Music Mission Statement
My music explores the dichotomy between Southern nostalgia and urban modernity.
Since my recent relocation to New York, I have been working on a new solo show that features the intersection of traditional Southern American folk instruments and songwriting with current technologies and sounds. At its core, my music, show, and sound are built around the reimagining of a traditional folk instrument: the autoharp.
Currently, this project is still a work in progress and this page will showcase the photos and videos of that metamorphosis along with pictures from my portfolio that reflect my essence and aesthetic. My repertoire will feature best-loved folk and blues songs from the Southern US along with original material and re-imagined covers of some of my favorite songs and artists.
Music history, storytelling, blues and folk music are subjects that I always felt drawn towards. I find the fact that many early blues and folk melodies are of unknown origin, yet continue to be appealing and reinterpreted, both intriguing and encouraging.  In the past when constructing set lists and repertoire, I particularly enjoyed deep research into any cover songs that I chose to perform. Mere memorization of the melody and chord structures is not enough to satisfy my curiosity. With each song, I delve down the rabbit hole, exploring its origins, the life and career of the songwriter, as well as different artists’ versions and how that song fit into their own style and songbook. For example, the Appalachian folk song, “In The Pines” or “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” exact origin and writer unknown, was later adapted to a blues and performed as recently as 1993 by Nirvana for their MTV Unplugged show.
Memory and mortality are fleeting, but certain congruities bind us in our shared humanity. Music is one of the few constants that transcend time, geography, gender, and ethnicity.
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