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Photo by Anna Haas / Art by Becky Warren
‘Legacy’ is Nashville Scene’s Best Historical Album
We are so proud and thrilled to share that Legacy was named “Best Historical Album” in the Nashville Scene ‘best of Nashville’ edition. Well-deserved, Kyshona!
For Your Consideration…
Dear Recording Academy voting members, this is a first for me! Please consider #Legacy as you cast your votes. I’m so proud that my Grandpa HT’s song is on the ballet! I wonder what he’d say right now . This was such a collaborative album and I love seeing my friends’ names among the masses.
For your consideration:
Best American Roots Performance:
“Carolina” Kyshona Featuring Keb’ Mo’
Best American Roots Song:
“Carolina” (written with Brittney Spencer)
Best Americana Album:
Legacy
Best Engineered Album (Non Classical) -
Rachael Moore (engineer) and Kim Rosen (mastering engineer)
Best Gospel Performance/Song:
“Heaven is a Beautiful Place” (written by Hawthorne (HT) Armstrong, ft. Maureen Murphy and Nickie Conley
Oct 3: A Note From Kyshona
Hello Friends,
How are we holding up? My heart goes out to the many of you that have lost homes and priceless belongings to Hurricane Helene and the floods. My family and friends were spared, save the loss of power and a friend’s Florida home being flooded. All humans and animals are safe.
If you are wondering how you can help the folks in East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and North Georgia, here is a Google sheet of organizations and links for donation.
I am just returning from a week out in Sisters, Oregon for the Americana Song Academy and Sisters Folk Festival. Other than my discovering that I am highly allergic to Ponderosa Pines, Aspen and Juniper trees, this was a truly restorative week for me. It was nice to be in nature for a while, smell the fresh air and see the stars at night. Our second night at Caldera, Michaela Anne and I saw a meteor fly over our heads at what felt like a couple hundred feet above us. A large ball of fire that flew overhead so so fast. The sight stole the breath from my lungs! For the rest of the week I walked the path from the main hall to our dorms with my eyes fixed on the sky for a glimpse of another wonder like that meteor. I think I get it now- why people sleep in trees, hike mountains and go camping. It’s nice to walk amongst the trees and look at the night sky and remember how small we are.
This weekend kicks off the beginning of a very busy 2 months on the road. From Mountain Stage to the Netherlands, some exciting adventures and opportunities to connect with communities are on the horizon.
This dispatch is a short one, but I hope to see you out on the road if we are in your area. My tour time is winding up so I’d love to have some good energy to stock up on before I go inside for the winter months. =)
In the meantime, love your neighbors, remember The Four Agreements (Google it if you don't already know) and remember to use that voice of yours for good in this world.
xo, K
Love for Legacy…A Look at What Folks Are Saying:
“...heartfelt empathy is evident on Legacy, an inspiring collection of gospel, folk and blues.” - NPR
"...a Nashville-based and roots-driven soul vocalist, educator, musical therapist and songwriter bearing peerless Americana, country and folk co-signs" - The Tennessean
"Both as an album and a reclamation of her family's over 150-year-old American genealogy...it -- like many of her previous works -- captures the 'honest essence' of 'tangible realities.'" - The Tennessean
"Kyshona nurtures the myriad branches of her family tree with this remarkably thorough tribute to her ancestors." - The Boston Globe
"Even when she keeps her big soprano in a conversational mode, it’s impressive, and when she lets it go on a climax, the shift provides the drama that mere volume can never match...her lyrics are driven by metaphors rather than sermons." - Paste Magazine
"Kyshona incorporates sounds from across the spectrum of Black music to craft a gift for the rest of us." - No Depression
"Kyshona incorporates her family’s own archive of choir performances and sermons to craft a throughline from her immediate ancestors to the deep past — and back to the future." - No Depression
"...organic, rocking, soulful groove" - The Nashville Scene
"...an ethereal testimony to the resonating presence of the generations of individuals who reverberate through our lives." - Folk Alley
"Kyshona's genre-fluid album...finds redemption in exploring generational traumas - with compassion, heart, and family ties front and center" - Good Country
"Kyshona’s creative and perceptive approach to her place in the world, as a Black woman, as a child of South Carolina, as an inheritor of gospel tradition, grips our attention all the way through the dulcet folk of its closing song" - WMOT - The String
"On this album Kyshona takes listeners on a journey through her family legacy...while also creating her own legacy for the next generation." - WNXP
"...an absolutely fierce bit of soulful rock and roll about the importance of keeping her familial stories, and sacrifice, alive" - Don't Rock The Inbox
"...a steaming country funk beat bubbles beneath the surface before it boils over and it all ends up sounding something like Odetta cutting a '70s Stax slow jam." - Holler
"Spiritual" - Rock & Blues Muse
"One spin of these 13 memorable gems (and three brief interludes) takes the listener to another, higher psychological plateau, lifting spirits and encouraging a more divine, holistic approach to life through her music." - Rock & Blues Muse
"...a stunning display of passionate soul and country-fried blues...showcases the artist’s poetic approach to songwriting as she delivers her words in a cloud of soulful prowess." - Glide Magazine
"Kyshona makes Nashville a better place" - Adobe & Teardrops
"Whether it’s through her work as a music therapist and activist, or the impressive artistic community she’s marshaled for her upcoming album Legacy...Kyshona is always one to use her light to refract through others and create something greater than the sum of their parts." - Adobe & Teardrops
“...Ms K mixes rootsy sounds, blues, folk, gospel and southern soul flavours into a provocative cocktail.” - Soul&Jazz&Funk
Netherlands, Here We Come!
Legacy has been getting lots of love in the Netherlands, so Kyshona is bringing the music to the people. Save the date this fall if you are in these areas:
“Comin’ Out Swingin’” is out Now!
That's right, today we released "Comin' Out Swingin'" to the masses. Have you listened yet? You can go listen from your favorite streaming platform if you go to this link!
Maybe everyone has that family member that they really look up to. That cousin that intimidates you but also makes you feel like you're 10 feet tall. That sibling that you have repeatedly watched walk a hard road but still meets every challenge head on with wild abandon. My brother Kelvin and I wrote this song out of love and admiration for our cousin Crystal C. We imagined this as her personal anthem for those moments she needs that boost of confidence, but in truth, I feel like I wrote this song for myself as well. When I'm feeling my lowest I think of Crystal and all the women that came before us that made hard decisions and sacrifices in the name of love, home and purpose.
Go ahead and turn this one up to 50 and practice your power poses in the mirror. Let's make today the start of our new year and proclaim to the masses, "I'm placing all bets on me! I didn't come this far, only to come this far!"
Sneak Peek into the new visuals
A few weeks ago we had a photo shoot for the record with the amazingly talented Anna Haas. Not only is she a singer/songwriter but she’s also a badass photographer. These new photos are inspired by my Grandma Alma with her glitzy chandeliers and luscious curtains, Grandma Eva’s warm toned home with African artwork and family photos displayed on an upright piano, Great Grandma Sidney’s church hats and the ancestors whose names I may never know who were brought here through the middle passage. I can’t resist showing you just one of these photos.
Kyshona is opening for Jason Isbell at The Tabernacle in Atlanta on March 30th. Tickets on sale now! If you’re in or near Atlanta, come on out and send all the good vibes!
We did it! Kyshona’s Kickstarter goal has been met and exceeded. Congratulations, Kyshona!
Kyshona's Legacy Album + Ancestry Project announced! Support her Kickstarter now!
UK fans, Kyshona is coming for ya this July! Get your tickets here.
Catch Kyshona among this killer lineup at the 46th Annual Ann Arbor FolkFest.
New Singles “Rise The Tide” and “Do What Feeds Your Soul” (feat. Shannon LaBrie) out now!
Kyshona releases new animated music video for single “Out Loud”
New single “Out Loud” released May 13th!
Kyshona is opening for Allison Russell on tour this spring! Tickets on sale now.
3/6 The Barns at Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA
3/7 City Winery, New York, NY
3/8 The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA
3/9 State Theatre Portland, Portland, ME
3/13 Kentucky Center, Louisville, KY
Initial lineup for Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion announced! Tickets available here.
“The Echo” out now!
It’s Pisces season!! And if that means nothing to you, just know this is the season where all of your open hearted, creative, head in the clouds, heart on their sleeves friends and loved ones will get real introspective. Take it from me. I just had a birthday last week and have been in my head and feelings something serious since then! Getting older is interesting. I’m 44 years old, but many people assume I’m at least 10 years younger than that. My cousin Amber says it’s because I’m single and doing what I want in life. HA!
I just finished a song with Rissi Palmer about wanting to be an old black southern woman. What we want most is peace and healing and knowing that our family’s traumas can end with us. Most of the time the older women in the family are still raising someone else’s kids, still working or trying to traverse the medical minefield of dementia, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, you name it. We didn’t get to see many of the elder women in our family just… be. I want more for myself 20 years from now. I want to own land, I want to plant gardens that I can tend, I want to be a source of emotional and physical comfort for someone, and to be able to lean on them for the same. Mostly I want to be unbothered and highly hydrated in my old age.
The stories of the women in my family are all stories of their strength and how they overcame and persevered. Low key, I want my stories to be about how much I love a good gossip session, get tickled pink when people trip or fall (and only after I check to make sure they’re okay), and how quickly I am ready to fight someone that speaks ill of my friends when I have never fought a person a day in my life. Well, except for Chris in the 3rd grade…. but he was asking for it.
Here we are walking into Women’s History Month and I have a new single out today called The Echo. It’s written for the women in my family who came before me and planted, tended and harvested the land. It’s for the men whose names I may never know that worked tirelessly to own property so that they could put down roots of their own. When they worked the land in North Carolina and South Carolina they were thinking far into the future beyond themselves and how the decisions they made would impact us generations later. We don’t do that so much as a people these days. We’re thinking about that instant gratification. That immediate pay off. The right now.
IT'S HAPPENING. OFFICIALLY. UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!
HI HELLO, YES. I know. All caps can be alarming. Have a listen and see why I'm excited. Ah, nevermind. I'll give you the bullets:
THE ALBUM RELEASE DATE IS APRIL 26TH!
FIRST SINGLE: COMIN' OUT SWINGIN' will be released on February 1st!
Here’s a link for ya to get the FULL update:
https://youtu.be/CGni46Nw780?si=jBmllYFnBH6OX0QQ
Legacy Album Update
So between life and the travels, we’ve been working tirelessly on finishing up this Legacy album. Dare I say we’re done ya’ll! Rachael and I may have a few tweaks here and there, but… I mean… we’re finished with all of the recording and overdubs! Eeeee! I was even able to convince the nieces, nephew, sister-in-law and Momma to put their voices on a song! It took minimal bribing ‘cause they love me and I never ask for anything =)
Kyshona and the team are in the studio this week! Greetings from Memphis!
Kyshona is opening for Margo Price this summer!
Spring tour dates announced. Kyshona is heading to Alaska!
Kyshona Releases The Parthenon Sessions. Listen now!
Kyshona on tour supporting Shovels and Rope. Click image below for tickets.
“Out Loud” in The New York Times “The Playlist” of top new songs (Jon Pareles)
New song “Is That All You Got” by Kyshona and Wilderwater appeared in ABC show Station 19!
Tune in to Kyshona singing with Adia Victoria, Margo Price, and Jason Isbell in this new official music video “You Was Born to Die” and read what Stereophile had to say about it here.
Kyshona is going to be a featured instructor at Miles of Music Camp this summer!
Join Kyshona for a Song & Body Retreat with Sarah Jane Chapman in Ashland City, TN this June. Engage in group writing, yoga and meditation and make time to reconnect with your body. Offered on a sliding scale! To register, visit www.sarahjanechapman.com.
SHOWS
RECENT HEADLINES
Ten23 Project
Kyshona’s project with Academy graduate: Whittney Martinez
