Music FridayLive!

Moira Smiley is a singer/composer who creates and performs new work for voices. A musical polyglot, and vocal shape-shifter, her voice – and composing – are heard on feature films, BBC & PBS television programs, NPR, and on more than 60 albums. When she’s not leading her own group, Moira Smiley & VOCO,  she tours with with groups like indie artist tUnE-yArDs, Solas, The Lomax Project and Billy Child’s “Laura Nyro Re-Imagined”.  Born in Vermont,  raised in Indiana and now living in Los Angeles, her musical foundation is harmony and traditional folk songs, but she has spread her talent, including serving as Musical Director for Shakespeare Santa Cruz , performing at the London Proms Festival, being featured on BBC3’s The Choir, and ABC Australia’s Books & Arts programs where her spare, vocally driven warped traditional songs, original polyphony and body percussion get rave reviews and audience love and keep her in high demand as a choral clinician, composer and arranger.

Costa Rican hip-hop artist NAKURY has been a model, a beauty queen, a dancer and a graffiti artist.  Now a rapper, hip hop poet and performer and – most important – an activist using music and art to stop violence against women and end a machismo culture that is toxic to women, men and families. Her music, including her new album Via, is captivating with smooth rap, emotional choruses Her videos burst with energy and dance, and her message of confidence and empowerment inspires women, not only in her native Costa Rica, but worldwide.  She has experience the abuses she singa about - she talkis to women and girls personally and to men through the love of their families.  NAKURY  is truly an artist larger than her art and she is making waves on tours, online and on recordings.

Los Angeles born singer-songwriter Eva B. Ross grew up writing songs and singing in her family’s garage band. She studied singing and songwriting at Interlochen Arts and the Stanford Jazz Vocal Residency. Later at UCLA, she formed her band, Eva B. Ross Foundation and independently set out on a European tour in the summer of 2014. In 2015, she released her first independent single "Nick's House" and in 2017, she won UCLA's Spring Sing with her original composition, "Chicago". Past recipients of the award include Sara Bareilles and Maroon 5. She has twice been featured as a vocalist on WDCB 90.9 FM’s “Chicago Jazz Live” and she is currently working on her debut EP, which will be co-produced by Grammy-winning producer Justin Niebank and Emmy-winning producer, Steve Rashid.

The NaveBlues is a band on a mission.  It is trying to bridge the gaps among three musical genres -  the blues, rock, indie music  to make the music speak your language, whoever you are.  One of their core elements is the harmonica, which is essential to the mood of the  lyrics and the ambiance of the space you are in when listening to the music.  The band was formed in Norway but it integrates international influences into their music while keeping the common underlying messaging of Blues while surfacing more complexity with their storytelling.  The band’s  stories range across ghosts , love with misunderstandings, duty and inspiration, and frustration and adventure.  NaveBlues does more than just sing a song. It wants you to understand the story and the emotion buried inside.

Kara Grainger is an Australian-born, US-based blues woman who has played around the world.  She started her music career in a suburb of Sydney Australia when, at 16, as an accomplished blues guitarist and singer,  she and her brother Mitch Grainger formed the band "Papa Lips". They toured Australia and produced two studio albums heavily influenced by the sounds of Stax records and funky blues and soul from New Orleans. In 2008 she signed to Australian label and came to the US to record her debut solo album, "Grand and Green River “which stayed in the top 30 of the Americana Charts for 38 straight weeks. The rest is history – tours of Europe, Asia, the US, appearances on “Austin City Limits”, opening for Peter Frampton, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal and Jonny Lang. Her fourth album, Living with Your Ghost,  will be released this Friday and we will preview it.

Mad. Insane. Crazy. Brilliant. Weird.  There are a lot of ways to describe Kurt Stifle and his various musician incarnations. Co-founder/writer for 80s punkers The Nip Drivers, he appeared in the notorious underground film “Desperate Teenage Lovedolls,” recorded  Destroy Whitey and Oh Blessed Freak Show. Three decades, multiple musical incarnations and billions of creatively firing neurons later, he is the leader of Kurt Stifle and the Swing Shift and has just released another album, The Pilgrim’s Guide to The River of Salvation, a 16-track rock opera that’s the latest twist of zany but laser focused inspiration from the composer, producer and guitarist’s freewheeling ever-evolving collective Labor Camp. The album is all about the journey, so we will hear songs from the  past 60 years of pop, from Dylan to Cheap Trick  and Black Flag. We will have Kurt. We will have the album. And we will have fun this Friday.

NYC pop artist, actress and dancer Kendra Black has recently released her album The Edge produced by LA’s Trend Def Studios and co-written with Nick Nittoli and Lachi.  The single from the album, ‘Rude’ features Snoop Dogg . Kendra, who trained in conservatories in France and Milan, Italy,  has performed in France, Monte-Carlo, Italy, Egypt, U.S. and the Caribbean.  She is currently scheduled to appear on the Richmond International Music and Film Fest in Virginia and at the BMI All Stars Showcase in Queens, New York City.   Never one to stand still, she has appeared in numerous roles in New York Film Academy productions, and on Nickelodeon TV Channel, plus she designed and launched her own line of sportswear.

At eighteen Ally Venable became the East Texas Female Guitarist of the year, and then came back and won again in 2015.  Venable starting singing at an early age in church and then picked up the guitar, found her passion and became s a protégé of six-string blues guitar legend Lance Lopez.  Now the lead singer and guitarist for her own band she  has ignited excitement throughout the Modern Blues Scene.  Venable’s songwriting, guitar playing and onstage performance blow away both live audiences and her record fans.  She has assembled the Ally Venable Band  of top notch multiple instrumentalists including bassist Bobby Wallace and classically trained musician and drummer, Elijah Owings, known as the backbone of their Modern Rockin’ Blues sound.  Together, this trio has won the 2015 , 2016 and 2017  East Texas Music Awards Blues Band of the Year and has just released the new CD, Puppet Show.

NYC native Cuesta Loeb comes from a family of musicians -- the world-renown jazz guitarist Chuck Loeb and Spanish singer-songwriter/actress Carmen Cuesta. Growing up between the US and Spain, she studied classical flute and bassoon and played in orchestras, she was  never able to find her voice in classical music. In 2015, she moved to Los Angeles and began experimenting in her own songwriting and production inspired by Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fiona Apple, and (early) Sheryl Crow, She found her home, combining her love of dark, haunting melodies with dreamy, ethereal instrumentation and vocals with everything from acoustic ukuleles to Shoegaze-heavy guitars. She linked up with guitar player/producer, Blake Straus and they are recording the band’s debut record, to be released this summer. Together with her sister Lizzy, she performing the live Cuesta Loeb shows.

Cusi Coyllur is the name of an Inca princess. It is also the stage name taken by the indefatigable Shannen Roberts,  experimental pianist, singer and mental health advocate.  With a huge vocal range, superb piano chops and the willingness and ability to go beyond the borders of pop/jazz music , Coyllur creates music that has been featured in Huff Post, Ms. Magazine and Madame Gandhi’s “The Future is Female” Spotify playlist.  Her latest single and music video, “amivulnerable?”,  is a dance interpretation of domestic abuse and comes with a free zine in collaboration with her blog The Strange is Beautiful. She is also a healing yoga instructor, publisher of The Strange is Beautiful Alternative Self-Help Guide and has hosted live Instagram talk about her arthritis, IBS and mind obstacles and the struggles of other artists.

Kara Grainger is an Australian-born, US-based blues woman who has played around the world.  She started her music career in a suburb of Sydney Australia when, at 16, as an accomplished blues guitarist and singer,  she and her brother Mitch Grainger formed the band "Papa Lips". They toured Australia and produced two studio albums heavily influenced by the sounds of Stax records and funky blues and soul from New Orleans. In 2008 she signed to Australian label and came to the US to record her debut solo album, "Grand and Green River “which stayed in the top 30 of the Americana Charts for 38 weeks. The rest is history – tours of Europe, Asia, the US, TV appearances , opening for stars. Her new single, Living with Your Ghost,  will be released this Friday and we will preview it.

Mad. Insane. Crazy. Brilliant. Weird.  There are a lot of ways to describe Kurt Stifle and the Swing Shift and Kurt’s various musician incarnations (aka Kurt Shellenberger). Co-founder/writer for 80s punkers The Nip Drivers, he did crazy stuff like appear in the  Dave Markey film “Desperate Teenage Lovedolls,” recording albums like Destroy Whitey and released popular covers of “Fox on the Run” . Three decades and multiple musical incarnations later, he is the leader of Kurt Stifle and the Swing Shift and has just released, The Pilgrim’s Guide to The River of Salvation, a 16-track rock opera that’s the latest twist of zany but laser focused inspiration from the composer, producer and guitarist’s freewheeling ever-evolving collective Labor Camp. The album is all about the journey, so we will hear songs from the  past 60 years of pop, from Dylan to Cheap Trick  and Black Flag. We have Kurt. We have the album. And we will have fun this Friday.

Kirsten Collins began working with Grammy producers and writers in the beginning of her teen years. Her potential for stardom was evident early on as she was singing on key when she was less than 2 years old. She sang her first solo at age 5 and wrote her first song at 6. At the age of 9 was fronting adult bands at professional events. She then went on to win Calgary Junior Idol when she was 10. She was later named Miss Teen Calgary - World in 2012 and also competed in the Miss Teen Canada - World pageant. As an actress, she had a major role in the 2009 film Rust, which featured her original song "Could You Imagine." She is featured on the MC Mario single "Anti-Gravity" and has received several offers from music labels, movie producers and has been featured in international publications but has decided to remain independent.

David Poe has toured the world with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, The Jayhawks, Chris Whitley, Glenn Tilbrook and Tori Amos. His songs have been recorded by producers including T-Bone Burnett, Larry Klein, Buddy Miller and Dave Sitek, and performed by Curtis Stigers, Oh Land, Ana Moura, C.C. White, Thomas Dybdahl and the cast of Nashville. His solo recordings include his most recent release God & The Girl, a self-titled debut produced by T-Bone Burnett, The Late Album on Sony/Epic records, Love Is Red on Universal Music/The Lab,  two live recordings and much, much more. Not bad for a sound engineer from the Midwest transplanted to Los Angeles by way of New York City.

Native Angelino, H’Atina, Released her debut EP in 2002, and the single from the album, “Change” was an immediate hit. But her love of music and singing started years earlie at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where she studied  performance, chorus, musical theatre, songwriting, and vocal jazz...and learned to develop herflexible voice to carry  rhythm & blues, pop, funk, neo-soul, jazz, and musical theatre. In 2016  her single "Easy to Love You" was #1 for 16 weeks on radiomusic.com charts. She followed up with the  Like A Butterfly EP and immediately caught the attention of smooth jazz and soul DJs in the U.S. and U.K. She has performed on BET Live! and in venues and festivals nationwide. She is a 2006 Southern California Music Awards Nominee for Best R&B, and was voted MVP for her role in the jazz musical, Smokey Joe's Cafe in 2008.  

Jail Guitar Doors is a California non-profit organization that provides musical instruments and opportunities to help rehabilitate prisoners. In 1977, punk rock pioneers, The Clash, recorded “Jail Guitar Doors,” a song detailing the imprisonment of their hero and fellow musician, the MC5’s Wayne Kramer. In 2009, musicians/activists Wayne Kramer and Billy Bragg joined forces to create Jail Guitar Doors USA, which works  with social service groups to help people in prison reconnect with the outside world through music. ?Joining us will be Wayne Kramer and Ken Hartman,  a convicted felon who earned to college degrees while in prison for 35 years is the author of  Mother California. A memoir that chronicles his story from conviction to redemption. Hartman is the first Jail Guitar Doors disciple to be hired by the organization.

Gina Chavez is a bilingual Latin-folk singer/songwriter who blends the sounds of the Americas with tension and grace. Her music blends cumbia, bossa nova, vintage pop, reggaeton, and folk combined with dynamic vocals and sharp social commentary. She is the 2014 John Lennon Songwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner for her song “Siete-D,” a rock-cumbia-rap mix that explores the delights and dangers of El Salvador from a window on the 7-D, the bus route she rode as a volunteer there in 2010. An eight-time Austin Music Award winner, Chavez and her band swept the 2015 awards, winning Musician of the Year, Album of the Year(Up.Rooted), Song of the Year (“Siete-D”), Best Latin Band, and the Esme Barrera Award for Music Activism and Education, while placing in six other categories. A new Gina Chavez single from her upcoming intensely personal EP, Lightbeam. "Heaven Knows" is a love letter set to lyrics dedicated to her wife, Jodi Granado.

Chavez has received national recognition from NPR’s “All Songs Considered” and “Alt.Latino” for her debut SXSW performance (2012) as one of the new Latin artists to watch, and the Austin American-Statesman calls her “a true Austin music treasure — angelic vocals and a devilish treat on guitar.” Southern Living Magazine named her one of 11 “southern iconic women who have left a beautiful footprint across the South,” for her volunteer work in El Salvador. This will be her second appearance on Music Friday Live - her first interview was so much fun, we decided to ask her back.

LA-based, super funky pop artist Dree Mon, who has been described as "the sardonic love child of David Bowie and Wonder Woman from the valley,"  was thrust into singing and songwriting when a car accident cut short her dancing career. The rest is history. Her 2017 debut "Rebel Soul." will be in the upcoming Netflix film  “High Strung: Free Dance”. She followed that with a brace of songs s featured on TV shows (“Parenthood” and “White Collar”), movies (“No Service”, “Wingman Inc!”, and “Love of War”), and web series (“Liv Out Loud”. Along with media credits have come  awards like the Indie Music Channel Best Adult Contemporary Song, RAWard Producer Choice Award, a nomination from the LA Indie Critic Awards for (Best Music Video, and a Temecula Valley Music Award for Best Out of Town Talent - Pop. And she does all this while performing and recording a new single - “No Chill”, and an EP.

Texas-based Jackie Venson blows the roof off every venue she plays in, whether it is in the USA or on a world Tour.  Trained in classical piano, Venson has multi-instrumental chops plus a voice that can drip with emotion or belt with blues.  Venson picked up the guitar shortly after graduating from the famed Berklee College of Musi, made the giant leap from classical music to raw and gritty blues and never looked back.  Enthralled with music since the age of 8, this young singer/songwriter/musician has a vibrant musical soul and  precise technical control of her instruments. She blends and bends Blues, Rock, R&B, and Soul with her introspective lyrics into music that led to a Jackie Venson Day in Austin. She is on a coast to coast tour,  promoting her new Transcends EP.