Alma Vatya

• Blues
• Folk

Alma Vatya is a twenty-one-year-old guitarist, singer, and banjo player who performs American vernacular music inspired and informed by a lifelong exploration of pre-war country blues, ballads, and spirituals. ALMA grew up in the high desert of Bisbee, Arizona. Her love for country blues began when a neighbor gave her a small handmade fretless banjo along with cassettes of Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell. During formative travels to Mississippi, she learned the Bentonian blues style from Jimmy “Duck” Holmes at his Blue Front Cafe, and the trance blues of Robert Belfour in Clarksdale juke joints. Her polyrhythmic guitar and banjo stylings and nuanced vocals have been honed through hundreds of performances to national and international audiences.

Anand Nayak

• Folk

Anand Nayak is a Grammy-nominated producer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist living in Florence, Massachusetts. Anand has been the guitarist for folk band Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem since 2000, performing all over North America on stages large and small. He also performs and has toured with many artists including Polly Fiveash, May Erlewine, Jeffrey Foucault, Lui Collins, Alastair Moock, Heather Maloney, Pamela Means, Cloudbelly, Jim Eagan, Wishbone Zoe, and PBS Kids host Steve Roslonek (aka Stevesongs), along with other acts from the pioneer valley. Anand has produced, tracked or mixed for Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, The Pixies, Alastair Moock, Stevesongs, Lui Collins, Judith Avers, Adam Dunetz, Maria Sangiolo, Wishbone Zoe, And The Kids and many others.

Chris Walton

• Singer/Songwriter
• Soul

Chris Walton is a jack of all trades. Walton is a singer, songwriter, and producer based in Boston. He’s equally comfortable writing intimate introspective love songs or upbeat retro pop tracks, which is evident throughout his 2021 EP, Fade. He released his debut album, Ruminating Thoughts, in January 2023. This album is a culmination of his music up to this point, including recent releases “Soon” and “Cravin’,” which left fans eager to hear more from the chilled-out crooner. Inspired by the likes of Stevie Wonder, early John Mayer, and Daniel Caesar, Chris has created an album of smooth, jazz-kissed songs that tug at the heartstrings of listeners with effortless relatability on love and loss of love. Walton attended Berklee College of Music and is now a Professor of Songwriting at the very same institution.

Grace Givertz

• Indie Folk
• Singer/Songwriter

Hailing from the sunshine state of Florida, Grace Givertz captivates audiences with her indie folk compositions, blending earworm melodies with heartfelt storytelling. As a multi-instrumentalist, she infuses her music with a diverse array of sounds, weaving folk, Americana, and indie rock into a tapestry uniquely her own. Drawing inspiration from her personal journey living with chronic illness, Givertz’s music resonates with raw emotion and introspection. Her experiences infuse her songs with depth and authenticity, inviting listeners to explore themes of resilience and vulnerability. She has also been heavily involved with the Black Opry, an organization dedicated to highlighting and supporting Black musicians in the country music industry.

Mercedes Escobar

• Blues
• Country
• Singer/Songwriter

Fluctuating between unleashed and sweet, Guatemalan singer-songwriter Mercedes Escobar’s raw, guttural vocals dominate any stage. Her voice has been likened to a mix between Linda Ronstadt and Howlin’ Wolf. She’s created a unique genre which blends the rawness of old blues and country vocals and guitar, with the intensity of magical realism lyrics and the sonic traditions of her home culture; All while staying true to her modern values against prejudice in music, race and gender, and highlighting her story-driven songwriting. She calls this “Latin Americana.”​
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Mercedes has shared the stage with artists such as Gaby Moreno, Rubén Albarrán (Café Tacvba), Malacates Trébol Shop, etc. She is also featured in the soundtrack of acclaimed independent films Temblores (2019) and Cadejo Blanco (2022; the latter also credits her as music supervisor). After graduating Berklee College of Music in May 2024, Mercedes is recording an upcoming bilingual album, which is being co-produced by Grammy-winning producer and artist Gaby Moreno. This show will be an exclusive preview of that album’s work.

Other than her work in music, Mercedes organized the first Pride event in Antigua Guatemala, and was appointed “Ambassador Against Violence Against Women and Girls” by UN-Women Guatemala.

Nora Meier

• Folk
• Singer/Songwriter

Nora Meier is a diehard music fan, a frequent moviegoer, a daughter of two English majors, an Oregonian at heart, a verbal processor, a big reader, extremely stubborn, and always writing. She was raised on her dad’s curated mixtapes and epic vinyl collection, which cultivated her deep love for the format of The Album and an obsession with Bruce Springsteen.

Her very own debut album, Outfield, was released in October of 2024. It was born during a full moon /  lunar eclipse on a farm in Connecticut with the help of some of her favorite musicians. Eleven songs were tracked in seven days, interspersed by basketball scrimmages, deli trips and walks around a big field. The album was produced and mixed by Charles Dahlke (The Brazen Youth) and mastered by Andrew Goldring.

Nora lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

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.

Photocomfort

• Indie
• Singer/Songwriter

Photocomfort is the platform for Boston-based artist Justine Bowe’s careful, expansive pop. Photocomfort is the distillation of the exacting songwriting, production and performance craftsmanship she lends to other recording projects like Hex Girlfriend, Anjimile, and Cliff Notez. She borrows as much from 90s radio heroes like Alanis Morissette and Dido as from Joanna Newsom or Radiohead. Huge vocal hooks soar over nimble arrangements, presenting the self-doubt and isolation born from the pursuit of “the dream” of being an artist as harrowing, irresistible and irresistibly catchy. Stepping away from moody and humorous self-reflections, her latest album, “Patron Saint,” is a collection of platonic love songs.

Rachel Moberg

• Singer/Songwriter

Rachel Moberg is a singer/songwriter, whose developing sound reflects a wide variety of musical influences. Originally a classically trained pianist, she has found a home for her own artistic endeavors in the Folk/Americana community. Inspired by artists such as Brandi Carlile, Joni Mitchell, Sarah Jarosz, and others, she strives to write and interpret songs that reflect her present truths. Rachel is a recent recipient of the AMERICANAFEST grant awarded through the Salt Lick Incubator, which allowed her to travel to Nashville to take part in the annual AmericanaFest conference. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College in 2022, majoring in Environmental Studies and Economics. Rachel is currently working towards recording her debut EP.

Zia Amador

Zia Amador (He/Him) is a trans voice actor, treeman-in-training, and generally creative human. In his Voiceover work, he’s passionate about projects that benefit the LGBTQ+ community, as well as Museum audio guides, tours and accessibility audio. He is currently recording his first full length audiobook; a young adult trans and queer romance novel. As a treeman-in-training, he’s learning about trees, knots, chainsaws, and how to stay warm in all kinds of weather (among many other things). Creatively, Zia is a bit of a jack of all crafts, but currently he is currently enjoying a cottage core phase consisting of baking, crocheting and candle making. Zia also writes songs and creates textural soundscapes using bass guitar, voice and a loop pedal.