by Kim Ruehl (@kimruehl), Folk Alley

Kyshona Armstrong was a music therapist before she shifted her focus to pursuing a career in songwriting. Drawing from her background experience of using music as a healing force in people’s lives, the songwriting on Armstrong’s latest album, Listen., is heavy on transcendence and empowerment. “Fear,” for example, digs deep into one of the emotions so many people tend to run from, encouraging folks to “call it by its name” rather than giving in to its pull. And that’s just the beginning of Armstrong’s fearless approach to intensely emotional lyricism.

During this year’s 30A Songwriters Festival, we talked with Armstrong about all of this and more. Tune in and discover one of Nashville’s finest up-and-coming singer-songwriters.