Amythyst Kiah & Band

The Crafting Blackness Initiative with ETSU Black American Studies and Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts! proudly present Amythyst Kiah & Band with the ETSU Old-Time Ramblers on February 19, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the ETSU Martin Center.

Amythyst Kiah, a Black Appalachian, LGBTQ musician whose recent album is described as glorious collision of “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” is coming back home at ETSU Martin Center as part of the Crafting Blackness Initiative. Opening the performance are ETSU Old-Time Ramblers with Roy Andrade, from the program that mentored Amythyst Kiah at East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass, Old-Time, & Roots Music program. Kiah, with her “unforgettable voice that’s both unfettered and exquisitely controlled, the Tennessee-bred (Johnson City resident) singer/songwriter expands on the uncompromising artistry she most recently revealed as part of Our Native Daughters—an all-women-of-color supergroup whose Kiah-penned 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.”

The performance is free and open to the public, through funding from Tennessee Arts Commission, ETSU Division of Student Life & Enrollment’s SAAC, Mary B. Martin School of the Arts (MBMSOTA), Bluegrass, Old-Time & Roots Music Studies, Department of Art & Design‘s Slocumb Galleries, Department of Appalachian Studies, Office of the Provost, College of Arts & Sciences’ Office of the Dean and Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts in partnership with Tennessee Craft, Multicultural Center, Language & Culture Resource Center, and UMOJA. The Crafting Blackness Initiative is committed to advancing the visibility of African American artists in Tennessee.