Holler Live Sessions: Amythyst Kiah

Amythyst Kiah knows how a song can electrify an audience; how even the air itself can seemingly be stunned into stillness when a particular song is sung with enough care.

Whether it’s for her solo records or as part of the Songs of Our Native Daughters project alongside Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Alison Russell, Kiah has proven to be one of modern Americana’s most exciting voices. Fiercely intelligent and powerfully unafraid, her dextrous fingerpicking and warm undoubtable voice are a wonder to behold.

Amythyst Kiah joined us at The Betsey Trotwood pub one afternoon when she was over in London to record an exclusive Holler Live Session. As soon as she began to sing it felt like the whole room just froze in awe. It was incredible to be there watching these performances live and thankfully we have these wonderful sessions to capture what it felt like for us.

The beautifully fingerpicked ‘Wild Turkey’, written about Kiah’s mother, who drowned in the Tennessee River when Kiah was a teenager, was an especially sublime moment.

It’s simply Amythyst Kiah, her guitar and her voice, filling every corner of the universe for these few precious minutes.

Performing songs from her latest album Wary + Strange, the Tennessee singer and guitarist’s songs examine the realities of being a Southern Black woman in songs that feel raw and vulnerable but proudly defiant.

Playing ‘Firewater’, ‘Hangover Blues’ and ‘Wild Turkey’, Kiah proves just why she is one of the most celebrated artists around right now.

Lucky Londoners can catch Amythyst Kiah during Celtic Connections’ Transatlantic Sessions in London at the Southbank Centre on Saturday 11th February. For more info, head here.