Indie Music Women

Giving a voice to women in the indie-music business

Delivering Career-Boosting Information, Connections, and Attention to Talented Women Artists

You are here: Home / Archives for women guitarists

women guitarists

Featured Artist of the Day: Sunny

By

Photo courtesy of Sunny

 

Indie Music Women’s Featured Artist of the Day is…

Sunny (@musicby_sunny)

Sunny, a California-based singer-songwriter/musician, creates music with an acoustic soul sound filled with r&b, pop, and jazz influences. Sunny has always had music at the center of her life. Growing up singing jazz standards alongside her father, a professional pianist, laid the foundation for her to become the musician she is today. She began playing the acoustic guitar at the age of 15 and has devoted her life to music ever since. Sunny has two singles out: “Last Time” and “You Are the One.” Sunny’s EP “Songs From the Beginning” will be released in Summer 2021, with a single coming out in April!

Sunny shared with me what it means to her personally to be an indie music woman artist:

“Indie artists are a force to be reckoned with, and to be a part of the scene as women begin to rise up is an unparalleled experience. I had the idea one day to look into women-focused music blogs and websites, and the first one I came across was ‘Indie Music Women.’ Now I have a sense of mission and pride in the music I’m creating. I’m fortunate to be in a position where I can create and share my music. Being an indie female artist is deeply personal because I am a part of something greater than myself that is making a mark on history.”

Featured Artist of the Day: Niamhy Mac

By

Niamhy Mac

 

Indie Music Women’s Featured Artist of the Day is…

Niamhy Mac (@niamhymacmusic)

Niamhy Mac is an eighteen-year-old singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, cello, bass guitar, and keyboard), and producer from a remote village in the Highlands, Scotland. For a composition project in high school, she recorded her first song, the alternative rock inspired ‘Drifter’ at the age of fourteen, and performed every instrument herself.  Since discovering a passion for performing and recording, she has been writing songs frequently, while continuing to write songs herself and act as the entire band. She is open-minded and experimental when it comes to music and she is constantly trying new things, with her music incorporating elements of rock, folk, and punk. She has a unique, smokey sounding voice and writes thoughtful, meaningful lyrics.   (Bio courtesy of Niamhy)

Niamhy shared with me what it means to her personally to be an indie music woman artist:

“Songwriting is and always has been very therapeutic to me. I am independent and it has always been very important to me to make sure my ideas are exactly as I want them. Being an unsigned artist who makes music produced by my dad and performs the instruments entirely alone- it gives me full control. It really satisfies me to know that I did it all myself, especially when rock musicians are expected to be male.”

Featured Artist of the Day: Ania

By

Ania / Photo courtesy of Ania

Indie Music Women’s Artist of the Day is…

Ania (@aniacakess)

Ania is a Los Angeles based guitarist, songwriter, producer, and collaborator from Koszalin, Poland. Ania graduated USC with a BA in studio guitar and a BS in Music Industry while also taking guitar classes at Musicians Institute.

Ania rocks!!! No matter what the genre is; Rock, Metal, Alternative, Punk, and Rock inspired, she rocks it all. But she isn’t your average rocker since she also loves to play blues, jazz fusion, Latin, and pop. She studied under Richard Smith, Tim Kobza, Stig Mathisen, Allen Hinds, Scott Henderson, Daniel Gilbert, and Steve Trevato.

Ania in 2019, put out her own singles“Doors Close” and “Runaway.” In 2020, Ania released her single “Poison.”

– Bio courtesy of Ania

Ania shared with me what it means to her personally to be an indie music woman artist:

“Being an Indie Music Woman Artist is continuing the legacy of Do-it-yourself bands such as Bikini Kill, The Runaways, Pussy Riot, L7, and other female-fronted bands. These bands paved their way into the male-dominated rock scene and created a space for female musicians. (The same bands also fought for political justice regarding other world issues). L7, Lita Ford, Heart, Pati Smith, Sonic Youth, and many others helped female musicians be respected in the music scene. Today, I want to show the world women can play as good as men, can be in the music industry professionally, can write, can engineer, can producer, and can be skilled musicians. Men and Women are equals.”

 

You can hear Ania’s single, “Poison” on the Indie Music Women’s Spotify Playlist.

Featured Artist of the Day: Lisa Brigantino

By

Lisa Brigantino

Indie Music Women’s Featured Artist of the Day is…

Lisa Brigantino (@lisabrig)

Award-winning singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Lisa Brigantino is an engaging performer whose eclectic approach to songwriting spans groove, genre, and topic. Brigantino’s latest album I’ll Waltz Before I Go released October 15, 2018, continues Brigantino’s tradition of producing albums containing her eclectic original songs that span a wide range of genres including Folk, Roots, Americana, Old-Time, Country, Pop, and Rock. Her songs touch on the topics of love, loss, longing, hope, gratitude, family, and more.

I’ll Waltz Before I Go was co-produced and arranged by Brigantino and husband Thomas Millioto, and was recorded and mixed by Millioto. The album contains 13 tracks. Twelve tracks are written by Brigantino, and two of these songs are co-written. There is also one cover song on the album. The album contains guest performances by Thomas Millioto, Lori Brigantino, Susan Haefner, and Gus Morgan – Brigantino’s former Lez Zeppelin bandmate. With a majority of the instruments played by Brigantino, the arrangements show her versatility as an artist; ranging from mellow vocals and finger-picked acoustic guitar to full band arrangements with Brigantino deftly handling guitars, bass, keyboards, accordion, mandolin, and more. ‘Round Magazine says “It’s hard to find an album with more variety than I’ll Waltz Before I Go…Brigantino’s voice itself is something truly special. It combines the brightness and clarity of a precocious twenty-something, with all the range and control of a woman with decades of practice under her belt…. Nearly every track is a standout…This is a stunner of an album.” The Daily Country says “Throughout the thirteen tracks, Lisa seamlessly blends genres from Folk to Americana, Country, Rock, and Old-Time, even incorporating some Gypsy-Jazz for good measure.”

Lisa’s previous album release Wonder Wheel, continues to receive international airplay and fantastic reviews, including a 5-star rating and “Pick Of The Week” from Indie Music Critic as well as numerous other publications, blogs and ezines. Women of Substance Radio says “Lisa is one of the most versatile songwriters we’ve heard. She is a true artist who has mastered countless styles of writing, singing and performing. This New Yorker moves effortlessly from a sensitive acoustic ballad to an in-your-face bluesy romp without skipping a beat.” Among other accolades, Lisa appeared on Indie-Music.com’s Top 25 and she was a finalist in the Best Female Artist Category of The 6th Annual International Acoustic Music Awards and for the 1st Annual Songs For Social Change Contest for her song “Used To Be A House.”

Most recently, she received 3rd place for her song “Every Day’s A Journey” in the WomenArts Swan Day Song Contest. Lisa performs regularly at venues ranging from intimate house concerts and coffeehouses to clubs and large theaters. She has been selected to appear at a number of music festivals and conferences including The New Jersey Folk Festival (Singer/Songwriter Showcase Winner), The Ladybug Music Festival, The Florida Music Festival, Maplewoodstock, The Rockland-Bergen Music Festival, The Pleasantville Music Festival, The Black Potatoe Festival, Wellfleet Porchfest, Folk Alliance International, Singer-Songwriter Cape May.

Lisa often performs her original music with her sister Lori Brigantino, also a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. In addition, the two sisters also perform in “The Vickie & Nickie Show” a wacky, self-contained theatrical musical/comedy act where the real-life sisters portray Vickie & Nickie – the multi-instrumental, singing housewife sister duo straight from the hills of Northern Minnesota. Infused with snappy dialogue and audience participation, the sisters entertain with wacky original tunes, hilarious pop song interpretations and improv all while accompanying themselves on many different instruments. In addition to being a performing songwriter and musician, Lisa is a trained composer with a Master of Music in music composition and music theory from SUNY Fredonia, and she composes music for television, film, theatre, dance, and new media.

She also writes solo vocal and choral ensemble music as well as a variety of instrumental music. Lisa is a former original member of Lez Zeppelin, the world’s first all-girl, all Led Zeppelin tribute band and toured internationally with the band for a number of years playing bass, bass pedals, keys, mandolin and doing backup vocals. During Lisa’s years with the band, they received rave reviews in many publications and news sources including Rolling Stone (US, Germany, and Japan), Time Out New York & Chicago, Entertainment Weekly, The London Times, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker, VH1, MTV News, CNN News, CBS Sunday Morning and many more. Performance highlights include appearances at The Bonnaroo Music Festival and Voodoo Fest (USA), Download Festival (UK) Rock am Ring/Rock am Park (Germany). The band’s self-titled debut CD was released in 2007, recorded and produced by the legendary Eddie Kramer. Lisa co-wrote two of the original songs on the album. Lisa left the band in 2009 to focus on her own original music.

Lisa Brigantino is proud to be a Kurzweil Endorsed Artist. She is a member of SESAC, The Songwriters Guild of America, The International Singer Songwriters Association, Inc., New York Women in Film and Television, a voting member of NARAS (Grammys) and serves on the Advisory Board of Women In Music, Inc.

Lisa will be releasing her new single, “I Can’t Stay Anymore” on May 4. She wrote it for the short film, “Dollhouse”, which she also music supervised.

She shared with me what it means to her personally to be an indie music woman artist:  “It means that I can have more control over what I want to accomplish musically and I don’t have to fit into a stereotype set down by a major record label.”

You can hear Lisa’s new single, “I Can’t Stay Anymore” on the IMW Spotify Playlist.

 

Featured Artist of the Day: Sawagata Biswas

By

Indie Music Women’s Featured Artist of the Day is…

Swagata Biswas (@swagatabiswasmusic)

Born and raised in New York City, and currently living in Seattle, WA, Swagata Biswas is full of love, happiness, tenderness, and contemplation. With her powerful, soulful, and honest voice, she draws in the attention of her audiences with her groove-centered, soul-ingrained music.

At the age of seven, her parents recognized her passion for music and she began her journey with her elementary school choir, Indian classical vocal training, classical piano, and most recently, guitar. From this foundation, she began writing songs and composing music, inspired by her love for Soul, Jazz, Classic Rock, 90’s Rock/Alternative, and Pop and her favorite artists such as Amy Winehouse and Norah Jones.

She has performed live for a range of audiences throughout the U.S.A. and Canada at prestigious venues such as:

  • Rockwood Music Hall (NYC)
  • Pianos NYC
  • Sidewalk Café (NYC)
  • Churchills (Miami, FL)
  • Bourbon Bar at Columbia City Theatre (Seattle, WA)
  • The Royal Room (Seattle, WA)
  • The Chapel (Seattle, WA)
  • Tim’s Tavern (Seattle, WA)
  • Vashon Center for the Arts (Seattle, WA)
  • Metro Toronto Convention Centre
  • New York City Hall
  • Nassau Coliseum

Swagata released her debut single and music video “LENS” in September 2019. She is currently recording brand new music in New York City to be released in 2020.

Swagata shared with me what it means to her personally to be an indie music woman artist:

“To be an indie music woman artist means to embrace who you are as a woman, a person, and a musician. It also means being a role-model and helping women break barriers to achieve their dreams in any field.”

You can hear Swagata’s single, “Lens” on the Indie Music Women Spotify Playlist.

© 2020, Indie Music Women