Live Music: Kathryn O’Shea & Friends

Widely recognized as that Asheville-dwelling vocalist chick with the banjo and all the feelings, Kathryn O’Shea can’t seem to figure out how to write a song that doesn’t make anybody cry. Carrying a gentle optimism in her “poignant lyrics” (Encore Magazine), her distinctive vocals have been described as a “husky, low-toned moan” (Greenville Journal) with “a timbre as dynamic as Florence Welch” (Immersive Atlanta). Her solo record January 9th is a “warm, intimate collection of tunes” (Mountain Xpress) that tends to leave listeners covered in their own tears and snot but somehow also deeply galvanized and ready to wake up and fight the good fight again tomorrow. Basically, if you’re in the market for a good cry, sign up for her Patreon (patreon.com/kathrynosheamusic) where she can be found playing monthly livestream concerts, waxing poetic about the conundrum of being alive, and sharing mediocre photos of the moon.

Hannah Kaminer is a folk/Americana artist based in Asheville, NC. Raised in small towns in western North Carolina, she fuses echoes of Appalachian traditions with wistful, Americana-style songwriting. Her clear, yearning voice and unusual melodies are a haunting pairing with lyrics about loss, love, and home. Performing solo and with her band around the Southeast, Kaminer has released two full albums, Acre by Acre (2015) and Heavy Magnolias (2018). Both albums were supported by listeners through Kickstarter campaigns, and Heavy Magnolias was also funded in part by a Regional Artist Project Grant, from a coalition of NC arts councils. Kaminer co-produced Heavy Magnolias with GRAMMY-winning engineer Julian Dreyer. Kaminer’s songwriting has been recognized in the finals of the MerleFest Chris Austin Songwriting Contest as well as in Asheville’s citywide Brown Bag Songwriting Competition, where she won Crowd Favorite and Grand Prize. She has been featured with the Women in Music Series, The Asheville Opry, Western Carolina Writers, Down East Folk Arts Society, and Xmas Jam by Day. During the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Kaminer pivoted to produce a “Music for Quarantine” series, a platform for sending virtual concerts to loved ones in quarantine.

Described as “a vibrant, wholly original, deeply personal young artist” by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Mike Reid, Laura exhibits a poetic and technical depth that has garnered comparisons to Joni Mitchell, Sufjan Stevens, and Nick Drake. She writes intimate folk music with classical influence that Asheville’s Mountain Xpress coined as “chamber-folk.” Along with being a singer-songwriter, Laura has a degree in classical guitar performance and studied classical piano from a young age. Laura views music as a bridge to human connection and vulnerability, as well as a powerful tool for fostering community. She has self-released two albums, Counting Eyes (2014) and Fall Away (2017), and recently released her EP Place to Be, recorded with multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer Daniel Shearin (River Whyless). Support and follow her at patreon.com/lauraboswell and lauraboswell.com.