Nashville artist Stacy Antonel makes clever, country-leaning Americana that feels both vintage and hyper-modern. Her “country jazz” vocals conjure the great singers of the 1920s-’30s, with the emotive power of country icon Patsy Cline. Rooted in classic country and laced with elements of jazz, pop, and R&B, Stacy’s narrative songs often feature unconventional themes.
Stacy grew up near San Diego studying classical piano and cites an eclectic range of early musical inspiration: Tori Amos’s peculiar phrasing, Otis Redding’s rich melodic hooks. After winning televised singing contest “3 Minutes to Stardom,” Stacy quit her job to focus full-time on music. She began performing classic country covers as Ginger Cowgirl, and in 2017 moved to Nashville to record her self-titled debut EP, which was released in 2019. The album was praised by critics and led to tours in California, the Southeast, the UK, and Germany.
Stacy is a finalist in the 2023 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition, which will take place on Saturday, November 18, at Citizen Vinyl in downtown Asheville, N.C. Learn more and purchase tickets HERE.
NewSong Music: What sort of music was playing in your house when you were growing up?
Stacy: My parents weren’t really into music, so other than a Celine Dion CD that my mom briefly listened to, most of the music in my home was my older sister’s. She listened to a lot of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Cranberries. Very 90s.
What was your journey to music?
I took classical piano lessons from age 7 to 18, but I’m self-taught when it comes to singing. I was the only musical member of the family, and it didn’t really occur to me that it could be a career, so I stopped all my musical pursuits when I went to college. It was only 10 years later that I got back into it, when I started singing jingles for money while living in Argentina. Moving to Nashville in 2017 is when I really started writing songs and pursuing a career as an independent artist.
What is the first song you wrote that you were proud of, and why?
The first answer that springs to mind is “Planetary Heartache,” which is weird because it’s on my most recent record, and I’m most definitely proud of the songs I wrote on my prior release. But I just think this song slaps, and I’m kind of amazed that I wrote it. Somehow it makes me feel like a real songwriter.
What is your writing process like — do you write lyrics first, or music?
They usually come at the same time initially, and then there’s an editing phase. I find it more inspiring to write on the guitar, but I do figure out a lot of things on the piano because it’s my native tongue. Guitar is a new instrument for me, so there’s still a lot that I can’t do on it. As far as where I write, songs definitely come at random times, but the most important thing is that I sit down and force myself to just do it. As long as it’s quiet and I have my own space, it’ll work. When I’m on tour I particularly enjoy writing in random Airbnbs.
Share a musical adventure from this summer with us — an experience that really stood out for you.
I went on my first solo tour this summer, which was something I was really scared to do. If I’m just singing, I don’t really get stage fright, but put a guitar in my hand and take away my band and I’m legit scared. It was cool to start unraveling the story I tell myself that I’m only worth watching if I can hide behind the really talented musicians that I usually play with. There were definitely some mediocre moments onstage but it forced me to grow a lot in a short period of time.
Senobia is a versatile singer who pours out her soul fused with R&B, jazz, blues, and commercial pop undertones. She is a vocalist, composer, and veteran of the stage having performed with America’s finest as a U.S. Army band singer. She is a born and bred musician from Columbus, Ohio, where her first introductions to music were gospel, doo-wop, pop, and rhythm & blues before she found jazz.
Senobia has performed in jazz clubs on the Caribbean Sea, Opera houses along the Amalfi Coast of Italy, and wineries from Carlsbad, Calif., to Washington, D.C. Her world, life, and musical influences have transformed her music into the exotic culture she has experienced as an internationally traveled singer. Senobia is often referred to as a “sireness” as her voice is so enchanting and dynamic that she will leave listeners swooning for more.
Senobia is a finalist in the 2023 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition, which will take place on Saturday, November 18, at Citizen Vinyl in downtown Asheville, N.C. Learn more and purchase tickets HERE.
NewSong Music: What sort of music was playing in your house when you were growing up?
Senobia: Growing up, we would sing harmonies with our grandma to songs such as like The Jackson 5’s “Rockin Robin.” My grandma loved to sing 1950s doo-wop and barbershop quartet songs and I loved to sing with her. My grandmother’s voice is similar to the famous jazz singer Nancy Wilson. I would also transcribe music from the radio so a lot of the 1990s music from artists like Donny Hathway, Lauren Hill, Kirk Franklin, Whitney Houston, Micheal Jackson, Usher, OutKast, Destiny’s Child, R. Kelly, En Vogue, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Eminem. I loved to sing, rap, and just vibe to all the different types of music I heard my family listening to and what I found on the radio.
What was your journey to music?
My musical journey began in 4th grade, so when I was nine I started on the violin. That first year of reading music really set the tone for my musicianship. That next year, I moved to choir and have been singing ever since. In middle school, I received more musicianship training and singing development through the choir. By the time I got to high school, I was performing competitively as a soloist in the choir and in solo and ensemble competitions. Our high school choir traveled and competed internationally with two of us at the forefront leading the solos. When I went to college, I began my studies on the piano as my secondary instrument and became a classically trained singer. I performed a recital every year at my local church and fundraised to pay for a two-week trip to the Amalfi Coast to perform with a summer Opera program. After graduation, I joined the military and started to perform all different types of genres with the U.S. Army band from rock, country, patriotic, soul, jazz, blues, classical, R&B, and pop music. It was a lot of fun to get to perform your favorite top 40 music and some old-school music sprinkled in. When I got out of the Army I went back to school to get my master’s degree in vocal pedagogy. There, I really learned all the nuances of the voice and how to master the instrument. I started my professional voice teaching business and have been performing and songwriting since completing my master’s. I wish I could say I came from a family of musicians but really, I am the only one — but we have a few singers.
What is the first song you wrote that you were proud of, and why?
The first song I wrote that I was really proud of was “Time To Breathe,” the title track from my new EP I released this past March. I had that song in my head for years. “Time To Breathe” is the tail end of a story about a point in my life where I felt low enough to end my life from losing the love I cherished. I was young and didn’t quite know what love was, but I knew that was the person I wanted at that time in my life. Every time I perform and hear this musical composition I am moved because I made it through a dark time. “Time To Breathe” was one of those songs you just know needs to be heard. So I had a strong compulsion to get this song created. I actually tried working with two other producers before I found the one who helped me bring this song to life. Once “Time To Breathe” was created, it did relieve some of the emotional burden I had been feeling all these years. So it is one of my most beloved songs.
What is your writing process like?
My writing process is a bit unorthodox. I use the universe to help me write my music, which seems weird, but I say that because my songs come to me at random. Sometimes I’m more intentional and just listen to the world around me. But the songs I write almost always start with some sort of melody. I’ll just be living life and realize I’m humming the same melody over and over, so I record a voice memo then come back and start composing the structure on the piano. Sometimes lyrics will come right away, other times I craft a story from my life experiences or from what I feel from the melody and chords. My favorite songs are the ones that I write in my dreams. I’ll just be making music in my dream, wake myself up to record the voice memo, and work on it later. I have much more fantastical ideas and sometimes I can create the full song as I recall it from my dream.
Share a musical adventure from this summer with us — an experience that really stood out for you.
This summer I really did as much as I could to promote my first album, so just about anywhere I went I was shamelessly promoting and singing. We took my Dad to New Orleans for his birthday. One morning, while walking around, there was a jazz band playing outside at a local cafe. On their break, I went up and asked them if I could perform a few tunes. It doesn’t always happen but they let me join the set. I performed and afterward, I promoted my album. Wherever I go, I always try to find local musicians to share musical stories, but this was a nice surprise. It was my first performance in New Orleans, but not even three months later, I was back there performing at an artist showcase.
Originally from Arkansas, singer-songwriter Reece Sullivan now lives in Lafayette, La., and plays the surrounding states regularly. He’s reinvented himself many times: piano to guitar, classical to art rock, art rock to folk, flat picking to fingerpicking, solely songwriting to performing. In 2022, Reece released a full length album, Arkansas, and a single, The Riverband (Dockside). In 2023, he released a full-length acoustic album, Gethsemane, and a live EP, Live in the City of Gold. He’s putting the finishing touches on a new album, False Summits, which will be released early in 2024 and he has a single, “Song for Edward de Vere,” planned for November 2023, the 400th anniversary of the first Shakespearean Folio.
Reece is a finalist in the 2023 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition, which will take place on Saturday, November 18, at Citizen Vinyl in downtown Asheville, N.C. Learn more and purchase tickets HERE.
NewSong Music: What sort of music was playing in your house when you were growing up?
Reece: Not much! I had a very limited amount of vinyl that I remember playing such as an album by The Beach Boys, Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock N’ Roll,” and a kid’s song album. Other than that, one of my bigger and more fond memories of music was listening to what cassettes my dad played in his truck. I remember listening to the album An Innocent Man by Billy Joel and Tumbleweed Connection by Elton John. I loved those albums and the memories associated with them of riding with my dad singing along.
What was your journey to music?
I was classically trained. I started taking piano lessons when I was six; I still remember getting out of the car that day and the lessons, also. Though I did learn a lot like so, it wasn’t until I got an acoustic guitar at age 15 that I truly started learning music theory and playing by ear, which I had beforehand thought of as extremely mysterious. At age 20, I majored in piano performance, but I quit that after a mere year. My professor and I got along really well and would talk a lot about The Beatles and Beethoven, both of whom I greatly love, and he advised me to simply quit college if I knew I really only wanted to write music. Majoring in piano is a very time-consuming degree. I was practicing at least a couple hours a day for five or six days a week, and I felt even that wasn’t enough. It pained me because I was dedicating all that time to learning someone else’s music, however great it may’ve been, instead of working on my own. Thus, my professor’s suggestion that I quit, which I think of to this day as good advice.
What is the first song you wrote that you were proud of, and why?
I wrote my first song, “All I Wanted,” at my friend Jeff Fox’s house when I was 16. I still think of it a somewhat catchy tune and not all too bad. The lyrics were certainly extremely juvenile, but what can one expect at that age? As far as being satisfied with what I write, it’s a difficult thing. I feel no song is ever really perfect and can almost always be made better. Often it’s hard to figure out how to do that, though! I wrote a lot of stuff in my 20s that certainly showed talent and such, but there was a major shift in my music starting at the end of my 20s. I dedicated myself more fully to lyrics and aspects of the craft that I’d somewhat ignored up until then. When that phase started, I wrote an incredible amount of material; some of the material to arise from the early part of that phase I still enjoy and some of them I still play, but the first song to arrive where I realized I’d improved and that the improvement seemed lasting was a song titled “Suffering & Pain.” That song was released on the album “All For You, Dulcinea.” Though the vocals and production and recording quality on those songs was drastically lacking, I still really like “Suffering & Pain.”
What is your writing process like?
I believe in writing whether one is “in the mood” or not. So I try to generally treat it like an author would while writing a book. I tend to write predominantly on acoustic guitar, but I’ll sometimes write things on piano. Though there are definitely exceptions, I almost always get the music totally to my liking. This includes verses, choruses, bridges, breaks, and phrasing. After that, I write lyrics.
Share a musical adventure from this summer with us — an experience that really stood out for you.
I had a song place in this year’s ACORN Songwriting Competition, so I flew to Chicago to play the event, which is about an hour east, in the bottom part of Michigan, almost, but not quite, on Lake Michigan. Certainly traveling is one of my favorite things to be doing, no matter where I’m headed or why, though traveling for music is the best. I had also never been to Michigan or Wisconsin, so I took the chance to drive up into Wisconsin on a free day, which, combined with seeing Michigan, makes for 45 states I’ve been to. Louisiana was scorching hot, as it always is in the summer, so it bordered on magical being somewhere as cool and breezy as they are. The ACORN Theater did not disappoint. It’s an amazing, magical place that couldn’t look better, aesthetically. I had a great time playing and met a lot of good folks, one of which I may play some shows with in a few months. Meeting people through music is honestly one of the best parts to touring, and for me, I feel closer to people I meet through music than any of circumstance.
In celebration of its 22nd anniversary, NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition will welcome eight finalists to Asheville, NC, for an evening of songs and connection on Saturday, November 18, 2023. The internationally recognized event, previously held at the prestigious Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, has since found a home in the mountains of Western North Carolina. NewSong is proud to partner with Citizen Vinyl, a multifaceted event space in downtown Asheville, to present the finale showcase.
Clockwise from top left: Damon K. Clark, Beth // James, Reece Sullivan, Natalie Price, Stacy Antonel, Senobia, MaisCéu, Cloudbelly.
VIP PACKAGE: Join us as a patron of the arts for a pre-concert gathering. Enjoy drinks, hors d’oeuvres, an exclusive meet & greet with this year’s finalists, preferred seating for the evening and a digital recording of the night’s performances mixed by our own Gar Ragland, Co-Founder and Director of NewSong Music and Founder and CEO of Citizen Vinyl. Doors at 5:30PM.
GENERAL ADMISSION: General admission seating will include concert style and cafe tables as well as some bar stools. Seating is first come first serve. Doors at 6PM / Show at 7PM.
2022 NewSong Music finalists (with NewSong founder Gar Ragland, center back). Image by Aaron Stone Photo
The finalists, selected from advance online submissions from across North America and beyond, will bring their musical chops to Asheville to perform, compete, and connect with one another. A panel of music industry judges will select one grand prize winner who will receive a fully funded six-song EP, recorded and mixed at Citizen Studios, plus 500 vinyl records pressed at Citizen Vinyl, and a featured, paid performance at Arts Brookfield’s Summer Concert Series in New York City in the summer of 2024.
Citizen Vinyl, established by NewSong Music director and co-founder Gar Ragland, is North Carolina’s first vinyl pressing facility, and boasts a variety of amenities including a full-scale recording studio, a vinyl-themed craft cocktail and coffee lounge, a record and art store, and more.
Now in its 22nd year, the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performers and songwriters today. This crowd-sourced effort seeks to identify the truly exceptional artists within our communities and to work closely with them to develop their careers and introduce their music to a broader, international audience while building a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill.
NewSong Music is now accepting original song entries for its 22nd annual Performance and Songwriting Competition, presented by Citizen Vinyl. The program’s curated showcases have been a fixture in the national music scene since 2001. The competition finals will be held at Citizen Vinyl, in Asheville, N.C., on Saturday, November 18.
While the deadline for submissions has been extended to Sunday, September 10, NewSong has already announced two of this year’s finalists. The first, Jimmie Griffith of MaisCeu, earned his place when he won the LEAF/NewSong Singer-Songwriter Competition in May. Last week Corey Laitman of Cloudbelly was named this year’s Early Bird Finalist.
Corey shared some thoughts with NewSong Music on songwriting, mutual friends, and their summer adventures.
NewSong Music: What song(s) did you submit to the NewSong contest and why?
Corey Laitman: I submitted four songs — “Garbage,” “Phantom Lung,” “Poppa,” and “Psychopomp.” My band and I were in the process of recording an album, and three of these songs didn’t make the cut.
Toward the beginning of the album process, I was working with a friend who was interested in hearing my back-catalogue of songs I’d written and decided to shelve. We dug through my endless voice memos and re-discovered these four tunes. They’re all super vulnerable songs — and while I don’t remember exactly what happened, I feel sure the first folks I played them for gave a lukewarm reception. And that was enough for me to say, okay, maybe now is not their moment — or, more brutally, maybe they’re not strong enough to warrant a moment.
So we found these songs and my friend went crazy over them, he was totally aghast that I’d left them behind to rot. It was exactly the reception they needed to come alive to me again. Oh yeah, these are actually pretty good! It’s so powerful, how positive mirroring can make or break a piece of art’s life in the world. That’s always been the case for me, at least.
At that same friend’s behest, I made acoustic recordings of all four tracks with my buddy and bandmate, Reed Sutherland, and proceeded to submit the lot of them to a handful of song contests.
It was a pretty moving experience for me, falling back in love with these previously picked-over tunes. And it’s been ULTRA gratifying to have the folks at NewSong and New Folk fall in love with them as well — it’s all been a great reminder that my job as a songwriter is really to just show up for the music and do the work, not judge the work.
Here’s some info on each song:
“Garbage” is a song written from the perspective of a couch rotting on the roadside. It felt super sad and beautiful to try and inhabit the “mind” of something so exposed and discarded.
“Phantom Lung” is about how, in the aftermath of a destructive relationship, it’s easy to feel like you’re dangerous, somehow — like all you do, in spite of your best efforts, is hurt the people you love.
“Poppa” is about my Mom’s dad, who I call Poppa. He was my favorite adult growing up — I’m his first grandchild, and we had this special connection built around nature and music. He’s well into his 90s now, and when his wife (my Nana) fell and hurt herself at their house in LI, it was clear they had to move to somewhere nearer to my parents. Their home now is on the 17th floor of an apartment building in White Plains, N.Y. My Nana is deep in her dementia, and most of what my Poppa does is watch TV and help their aids care for her. I wrote this song from an honest place of grappling with the tension between the sweetness of remembering, the brutality of aging, and the strange grief abiding at their intersection.
“Psychopomp” is a meditation on a person in my life whom I love deeply and no longer speak with.
Cloudbelly is a quartet — who will be performing with you at the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting competition?
Yes! I’ll be joined by electric guitarist Sam Perry.
What sort of music was playing in your house when you were growing up?
Ah, so much good stuff. My parents listened to The Beatles, Elton John, Billy Joel, Electric Light Orchestra, The Moody Blues, America, Tracy Chapman, Carole King, Pink Floyd, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel… we had a ton of fun jams in rotation at my house growing up. And occasionally some Beethoven.
Share a musical adventure from this summer with us — could be a show you played, a tour you took, a recording you made, a concert you attended, etc. Tell us about an experience that really stood out for you.
A few weeks ago I traveled from where I live in Western MA to Rockport ME in a blinding downpour, the sort that’s come to define this summer in the northeast. What should have been a 4 1/2 hour drive turned into 7 hours on the road, replete with hydroplaning and spooky visibility issues. My friends and I missed the 1:30 ferry to Vinelhaven — the island off the coast of ME where the venue, Skäl is — which meant we’d have to catch the next one at 2:30, landing us at Skäl after our scheduled soundcheck and perilously close to performance time. We were a wee bit stressed, but the ferry ride was lovely (the weather had cleared by then), and when we disembarked there was someone from the venue waiting there to pick us up and haul us over. When we arrived wearily at the venue, our host showed us to our bedrooms, where we immediately brightened at the sight of the clean and cozy space. The next few hours involved a hurried soundcheck, a gorgeous meal their chef-in-residence cooked for us, and the happy discovery that the *entire second floor* of the venue set up with big couches and a full kitchen was, in fact, our green room.
The show itself was honestly middle-of-the-road — I was playing by my lonesome and the bar crowd was feeling rowdy — but my spirits could not be dampened, for I have rarely felt so gorgeously taken care of by a venue. At the end of the show, the proprietor handed both my friend and I healthy checks, and we spent the remaining hours before bed carousing with the crowd of lingering Vinalhaven natives and visitors. The next morning we woke to some venue-provided coffee and explored the island for a few easy hours before catching a ferry back to the mainland. It was a totally invigorating hoot of a trip, and it would not have felt that way if we’d arrived all road-bedraggled and ferry-wind-whipped at a place that wasn’t quite so generous and hospitable as Skäl.
I noticed on your Instagram that you know past NewSong Music winners Jobi Riccio and Sadie Gustafson-Zook. What’s the connection?
Ah yeah, I love those guys.
Sadie and I met at Club Passim in Boston many years ago — we got to know each other a bit more at NERFA in 2018, and then during the lockdown she and her partner and the time and me and my partner at the time did a lot of zoom hanging-out. Hah! She’s fantastic. I’m obsessed with her record, Sin of Certainty.
I’m pretty sure the Jobi connection is also through Passim, but I can’t locate the first meeting place in my memory… The first time we really hung out, though, was when she was opening a few dates for Mark Erelli — They played the Parlor Room in Northampton, and she stayed at my place in Great Falls. We got breakfast the next morning and drove her to the train station for the next leg of the Erelli tour in NYC.
Kristian Phillip Valentino, a 2022 NewSong Music Finalist, has been logging studio hours for his forthcoming album, Happily Ever After. This is a five-song collection of love songs, written for Valentino’s wife Holly. It’s also a follow up to his last album, For Everything, There is a Season, which ended with a break-up song. The EP will be released on the NewSong Recordings label on Friday, Sept. 22 and the first single drops Thursday, July 27.
Valentino says that many listeners don’t know that the break-up on Season was real — and it was with Holly. Seasons was written and recorded after the couple parted ways, and for Valentino the project was a way to process the heartbreak. But that’s not how real-life worked out. Kristian and Holly found their way back to each other and are now happily married. That warranted a new collection of songs … though Valentino needed a nudge.
“When Holly and I got married, she wanted me to write a song for the ceremony,” he recalls. “I was pretty taken aback that she asked me to do that. I’d recorded it on my phone, honestly, and we played it before the wedding.” But that song, “Forever with you,” was the catalyst for finishing the couple’s story in verse.
Valentino came to Citizen Studios, located within Citizen Vinyl in downtown Asheville. The studio has historic ties to the Asheville music scene, as well as to Western North Carolina radio, and is helmed by Gar Ragland, the president and co-founder of NewSong Music, and founder and CEO of Citizen Vinyl. Initially Valentino had three songs, but he told Ragland that he wanted to record five.
The original set of songs included album opener “Out of My Head,” about the first time you see that person with whom you fall in love, and end track “Find You Sooner.” The two additional tunes both came in a surprising way to Valentino who admits he usually takes a while to write a song.
Photo by Holly Giglietti
“It was midnight, I had my guitar in my hand, and I came across these chords,” he remembers. All of a sudden, the idea for “Taking My Time” came to him, and he completed it within 30 minutes. A few nights later the same thing happened. That time though “Stick Around” emerged as a cowrite with Holly. “We’d never done anything like that before,” Valentino says.
The musician started writing songs after the passing of his father and for years he used songwriting as a tool to process hard times. Now, he says, he’s able to balance the sad songs with happy ones.
Happily Ever After will be released on Friday, Sept. 22. Stay tuned for details on a record release show in Asheville. The EP’s first single, “Taking My Time,” drops Thursday, July 27. Follow @KPVSongs and @NewSongMusic to listen!
ABOUT KRISTIAN PHILLIP VALENTINO
KPV currently calls Asheville, N.C. home. His musical palette falls between the lines of indie folk, singer-songwriter and Americana. His lyrics are a healing balm from the daily struggle as they wash over you with a deep reverence. Valentino was a finalist at the 2022 LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition, a collaboration between NewSong Music and LEAF Global Arts, and the 2022 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition.
ABOUT NEWSONG RECORDINGS
NewSong Recordings is a small label located in Asheville, NC and based out of Citizen Vinyl. It’s roster includes projects by Max Hatt / Edda Glass, Mel Bryant & the Mercy Makers, Rachael Kilgour, Crys Matthews, Cardinal Sons, and more.
ABOUT NEWSONG MUSIC NewSong Music is an independent music organization that aims to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across various genres of music and skill levels, while identifying truly exceptional artists and introducing their music to a broader international audience.
ABOUT CITIZEN VINYL
Citizen Vinyl was established by NewSong Music director and co-founder Gar Ragland. It opened October 2020 as Asheville’s first vinyl manufacturing facility. Citizen Vinyl boasts a variety of amenities including full-scale recording studio Citizen Studios, a vinyl-themed craft cocktail and coffee lounge, a record and art store, and more.
ABOUT CITIZEN STUDIOS
Citizen Studios is a classic space for timeless sounds; the modern analog rebirth of the historic WWNC radio station studios. The newly renovated space now consists of a large control room and a communal multipurpose room for recording, rehearsing and events. The studio is available for recording artists, engineers, producers and private functions
NewSong Music is now accepting original song entries for its 22nd annual Performance and Songwriting Competition, presented by Citizen Vinyl. The program’s curated showcases have been a fixture in the national music scene since 2001. The competition finals, formerly staged in New York City at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, relocated to Asheville, N.C. in 2017.
Eight finalists, selected from advance online submissions from across North America and beyond, will bring their musical magic to Asheville where they will perform, compete, and connect with one another. A panel of music industry judges will select one grand prize winner to receive a fully funded six-song EP, recorded and mixed at Citizen Studios, plus 300 vinyl records pressed at Citizen Vinyl, and a featured, paid performance at Arts Brookfield’s Summer Concert Series in New York City in the summer of 2024.
2022 NewSong Music finalists (with NewSong founder Gar Ragland, center back). Image by Aaron Stone Photo
Past NewSong winners and standouts include Ingrid Michaelson, Slow Runner, Crys Matthews, and Jobi Riccio.
Discounted ‘Early Bird’ entries are now open (1 song: $45; 2 songs: $80; additional songs: $30 each). Entry prices increase after Sunday, July 9, with the final deadline for submissions on Sunday, September 3. To submit your original music, visit newsong-music.com/contest. Finalists will be notified via email and announced through NewSong Music’s website and social media channels on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.
Jobi Riccio, Grand Prize Winner of the 18th Annual NewSong Competition.
Mark your calendar for the 2023 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition finale, which will take place on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at Citizen Vinyl in downtown Asheville.
Jobi Riccio, the 2019 NewSong Music Grand Prize Winner, has announced her debut album Whiplash, due out September 8, 2023, on Yep Roc Records. The album began as the grand prize recording project awarded to her for taking top honors that year, and was the first album recorded and mixed at Citizen Studios in Asheville, N.C. After the album was completed, NewSong Music director and co-founder Gar Ragland pitched it to Yep Roc, who signed her.
Written over the course of several formative and tumultuous years in Riccio’s late teens and early twenties, Whiplash is a profoundly vulnerable work delivered by an artist navigating the complicated transition into adulthood with remarkable grace and maturity.
The 11-song collection effortlessly melds classic folk and country sounds with atmospheric production. Throughout the songs, Riccio searches for a place to call home against the backdrop of embracing her own identity and coming of age. The 24-year-old songwriter grapples directly with a variety of topics, including facing past wounds and embracing her queerness. “When I was writing these songs, I kept coming back to this image of someone slamming on the breaks in a car crash and this idea of emotional whiplash,” Riccio explains. “That rush of stress and adrenaline felt similar to what I was experiencing as I emotionally processed my adolescence—almost as if I was being jerked around by one big life change after another.”
Born and raised near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Riccio grew up surrounded by music and fell in love with roots and country music at an early age. Her album draws on her earliest influences like Sheryl Crow on the shimmering self love-anthem “Sweet,” while also pulling inspiration from the tender, confessional indie-folk of artists like Adrianne Lenker and Haley Heynderickx on tracks “Kinder to Myself” and “Lonely Tonight.” Sonically, the collection marries the classic craftmanship of Riccio’s songwriting with modern indie-leaning production to forge a lush, expansive sound that feels traditional and experimental all at once. From the bittersweet album opener “Summer” to the jazz-infused album closer “One Last Time,” each song is a revelatory, coming-of-age story about change, healing, growth, and self-love.
Whiplash was co-produced by Gar Ragland, Jesse Timm, Isaiah Beard (of Baerd), and Riccio.
Arts Brookfield is pleased to announce ‘Notes of Pride,’ a New York City-based concert series celebrating Pride Month and the LGBTQIA+ community The series will take place throughout June. Performances will be held during lunchtime, 12:30-1:30 p.m., at Zuccotti Park (One Liberty Plaza) each Wednesday and at Grace Plaza in midtown Manhattan(1114 Avenue of the Americas) each Thursday. All performances are free to attend.
NewSong Music is proud to present 2019 NewSong Grand Prize Winner Jobi Riccio and 2022 NewSong Grand Prize Winner AC Sapphire as part of this series.
SCHEDULE:
AC SAPPHIRE + CALIKO
Wed, June 7, 12:30 – 1:30PM @Zuccotti Park
Thurs, June 8, 12:30 – 1:30PM @Grace Plaza
JOBI RICCIO
Wed, June 28, 12:30 – 1:30PM @Zuccotti Park
Thurs, June 29, 12:30 – 1:30PM @Grace Plaza
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
AC Sapphire + Caliko — Regularly championing other women and non-binary folks in the music industry, AC Sapphire attracts instant fans with her powerful voice and songwriting chops. Her music offers stunning, shimmering collections of electric rock songs, served as nostalgic souvenirs. Always in motion, AC also has a duo project called Caliko with long-time singing partner Kendall Lujan.
Jobi Riccio — An active member of the burgeoning queer country scene, Nashville-based Jobi Riccio writes songs that meld classic country sounds with modern sensibilities, aiming to turn classic tropes of genre on their head.
ABOUT NEWSONG MUSIC
Now in its 22nd year, NewSong Music is an independent artist development organization and independent record label. Its mission is to identify and celebrate truly exceptional artists, and to build and support a community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music.
ABOUT ARTS BROOKFIELD
Arts Brookfield supports innovation in music, dance, theater, film, and visual art by pushing boundaries to create unique works of art and cultural experiences presented for free. Thriving for over three decades, the program gathers communities around creativity by animating Brookfield Properties’ public spaces.
MaisCéu — the solo project of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jimmie Griffith — won this year’s LEAF Songwriter Competition.
Griffith hails from the mountains of Minas Gerais, Brazil. His compositions are a fusion of American and Brazilian musical traditions, reflecting his upbringing steeped in both cultures. At the LEAF Songwriter Competition, held Saturday, May 13, at LEAF Retreat, Griffith mesmerized the audience with intricate guitar melodies, upbeat auxiliary percussion, and lyrics sung in Portuguese.
“The experience of bonding with the other talented finalists, both on and off the stage, was nothing short of magical,” Griffith says. “As I looked around the room, filled with incredible talent, I was overjoyed and surprised when my name was announced as the winner of the 2023 NewSong Songwriter’s Competition. It feels surreal to witness how the songs I composed in a quiet corner of my room, with such personal meaning to me, are now resonating with new audiences.”
The singer-songwriter, who is currently based in Lenoir, N.C., earned a spot as one of only eight finalists at the annual, international NewSong Competition, to be held in Asheville this fall. MaisCéu will also return to the Fall LEAF Festival, held October 19-22, 2023, as a featured, paid performer.
“LEAF has always held a special place in my heart, and it has been a dream of mine to not only participate in the NewSong Songwriter’s Competition but also to be a featured performer at LEAF,” Griffith says. “I am looking forward to continuing this journey by putting together a special performance for the upcoming LEAF in the fall.”
From left, Gar Ragland, Jimmie Griffith, Josh Batenhorst, Jess Young, Lyle de Vitry, Corrie Lynn Green, Bridger Dunnagan, Jess Clemons, Quinn Tuff, Maggie Monaghan, Kate Prascher, Tiana Kennel, China Langford.
Judges for the event, culled from Asheville, N.C.’s music industry professionals, included arts and culture journalist Tiana Kennel, talent booker China Langford, and NewSong Music director and co-founder Gar Ragland.
“Once again this year’s finalists showcased a wonderful array of original material to an attentive and appreciative LEAF audience,” said Ragland. “ I’m continually impressed and humbled by the level and diversity of talent that this program attracts. It’s an honor to be able to showcase this caliber of talent each year with LEAF.”
Genres ran the gamut from folk and Americana to indie-pop. Seven finalists and their accompanists traveled from as far as Oregon’s Hood River Gorge to share their songs.
The LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition is a collaborative effort between NewSong Music and LEAF Global Arts. It aims to identify and recognize exceptional performers and songwriters from across the country.
