Vancouver Folk Music Festival

July 14 to 16, 2023

Amythyst Kiah | TN

Singer/songwriter Amythyst Kiah deals in old-time sounds (she studied bluegrass and American roots music in university) that convey a deeply intimate honesty, whether she’s singing about her personal traumas or her identity as a Black LGBT woman who’s built a career playing the banjo and acoustic guitar. Her Rounder Records debut, Wary + Strange then, marks the glorious combination of two vastly different worlds: the iconoclastic alt-rock that first sparked her musical passion and the roots/old-time music scene where she’s found breakout success in recent years, including recognition from Rolling Stone as “one of Americana’s great up-and-coming secrets.”

With an unforgettable voice that’s both unfettered and exquisitely controlled, the Tennessee-bred music artist continues to expand on the uncompromising artistry she revealed as part of Our Native Daughters—an all-women-of-color supergroup. Kiah’s standout, “Black Myself”, earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best American Roots Song and won Song of the Year at the 2019 Folk Alliance International Awards.

What has emerged through her extraordinary songwriting and recording is a raw yet nuanced examination of grief, alienation, and meeting the challenge of figuring out who you want to be and how to move through this world.