Songwriters in the Round Hosted by Kyshona
Sue E. Trotter Black Box Theater
Friday April 19, 2024 at 7:30 PM
About Songwriters in the Round hosted by Kyshona
Kyshona Armstrong is a music therapist turned singer-songwriter who uses her music to provide a voice to those who are silenced or unheard. This one night only concert is curated just for us by Kyshona to celebrate contemporary voices. For this engagement, Kyshona brings two songwriter friends to perform original work “in the round” in a one-night-only engagement curated specifically for The Arts Center.
FEATURED IN THIS PERFORMANCE
Crys Matthews
Photo by Laura Schneider
Already being hailed as “the next Woody Guthrie,” Nashville resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. A powerful lyricist whose songs of compassionate dissent reflect her lived experience as what she lightheartedly calls "the poster child for intersectionality," Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation called Matthews’s gift "a reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides." She is made for these times and, with the release of her new, hope-fueled, love-filled social justice album Changemakers, Matthews hopes to take her place alongside some of her heroes in the world of social-justice music like Sweet Honey in the Rock and Holly Near. Of Matthews, ASCAP VP & Creative Director Eric Philbrook says, “By wrapping honest
emotions around her socially conscious messages and dynamically delivering them with a warm heart and a strong voice, she lifts our spirits just when we need it most in these troubled times.”
Learn more about Crys Matthews.
Rissi Palmer
Photo by Chris Charles
Rissi Palmer's gift lies in reaching across all musical boundaries. While she made her mark in Country Music, she is equally at home in R&B music, bringing the entire spectrum of popular music to bear on music she calls “Southern Soul.”
A few highlights throughout her musical career include performances at The White House, New York's Lincoln Center and multiple appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. She has toured extensively across the country, sharing stages with Taylor Swift, The Eagles, Chris Young, Charley Crockett and many more. Rissi has also made numerous national appearances on Oprah & Friends, CMT Insider, CNN, CBS This Morning, GMA, Entertainment Tonight, and FOX Soul's "The Book of Sean and has been featured in Associated Press, Ebony, Essence, Huffington Post, New York Times, Newsweek, NPR's "All Things Considered," PEOPLE, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, to name a few.
Rissi is also a Special Correspondent for CMT's Hot 20 Countdown. The weekly series airs Saturdays and Sundays on CMT at 9a/8c and features chart-topping music videos, news stories, live performances and candid interviews from country’s biggest stars.
Kyshona
Kyshona is an artist ignited by untold stories, and the capacity of those stories to thread connection in every community. With the background of a licensed music therapist, the curiosity of a writer, the patience of a friend, the vision of a social entrepreneur, the resolve of an activist, and the voice of a singer - Kyshona is unrelenting in her pursuit for the healing power of song. She lends her voice and music to those that feel they have been lost, silenced, forgotten or alone. Through her organization Your Song, she facilitates therapeutic songwriting sessions with groups and individuals in hopes of reconnecting those who are divided. Of her past releases, one fan reviewer wrote: “Amidst these hard, divisive times this set of songs is a salve for the grief many of us are feeling about resulting loss of family, friends, and community.”
Storytelling is the way we pass information - between friends, colleagues, and family. Stories are how we imprint our culture and give gifts from one generation to the next. Memory is imperfect. It is influenced by emotion, context, our state-of-mind on any given day, our health, surroundings, language, and how we have been socialized. In telling our stories, we not only enlighten one another to our truths, we also call upon our community to practice active understanding and to help us acknowledge, validate, and remember our past. In telling our stories of the past, we shape a collective future informed by all we have all we have traveled, all we have learned, and all we have been.
Every family has storytellers, because we are all storytellers.
In her forthcoming album LEGACY, Kyshona tells the long story of her family’s journey. Please join Kyshona in the coming months, as she shares more of that story.
“Kyshona Armstrong has been called upon to represent for soul and gospel in roots, rock and folk lineups and to bring singer-songwriter sensibilities to R&B bills. But wherever she plants her feet, she does so with righteous conviction and a strong sense of her own voice.” - NPR Music
“Everyone is making political records. Everyone is making albums that speak to 'this moment.' Too few of them are making music that speaks to the people who inhabit this moment. Kyshona does." -The Bluegrass Situation
Seating for this concert is traditional auditorium style. If you’d like to help cover the cost of catering, you can choose the “plus Catering” ticket—but this is optional—you can still enjoy refreshments with the regular ticket.