Amythyst Kiah

Musician and songwriter, Amythyst Kiah is coming to Sparta on November 22nd as part of the Mountain Soul concert series.   She will perform at the Christ Church on Hwy. 21 South, Sparta at 6:30 pm.  In cooperation with the Grassroots Arts Project, a matinee performance will be held at 2:00 pm at the The Priser Theater on 22 S. Main Street, Sparta    Both performances are free to the public.

Ms.  Kiah is a Southern Gothic, alt-country blues singer/songwriter based out of Johnson City, TN which has been her permanent residence for nearly a decade. She will play original material as well as her renditions of blues and country classics.  She will discuss the African American influences in her music, and how she has merged traditional and contemporary roots music to create her own unique sound.

Her musical influences are eclectic and span across decades. She draws heavily from Old Time music (Mississippi Sheiks, Son House, Jimmie Rodgers, Olla Belle Reed, Carter Family) and is inspired by vocal stylings of R&B and Country music from the ’50s-’70s (Big Mama Thornton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn.) She blends those influences with those of contemporary artists that have similar powerful vocal integrity (Adele, Florence and the Machine, Megan Jean and the KFB, Janelle Monae, Thom Yorke, Tori Amos, Bonnie Raitt). Her sound has been described as raw and sparse, with heavy lyrical content regarding such themes as loss and betrayal.

Ms. Kiah has performed on Mountain Stage and Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City as a singer and guitarist for the East Tennessee Old Time Pride Band, opened solo for Tim O-Brien and Darrell Scott at the Barter Theatre in Abington, VA, and she performed at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival 2012 alongside the Ebony Hillbillies and Sparky and Rhonda Rucker.

CDs will be on sale after each concert.

This program is supported by the Grassroots Arts Project of the Arts Guild, and by the NC Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. For more information contact grassrootsartspromo@gmail.com.

For more information about the artist go to http://musiccityroots.com/artist/amythyst-kiah/