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The music of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Kate Davis has been turning heads in New York’s music scene since 2012. Whether she’s crooning rootsy ballads or plucking bright riffs from her bass, the gutsy songstress from Portland, Oregon, puts a fresh spin on the standards and brings a canonical sensibility to her own lush tracks.
 
Lauded by MTV as one of 2014’s “15 Fresh Females Who Will Rule Pop,” Kate grew up with an instrument in her arms and a head full of inventive lyrics. Her lifelong training makes for smart, warm pop that’s as musically nuanced as it is addictive. If you put a mid-career Jenny Lewis album in a room with Regina Spektor’s coloring, Joanna Newsom’s lyric poetry, and a dose of Tina Fey’s sharp wit—then added a couple decades of rigorous musical education and a shift dress—Kate Davis might come strolling out.
 
Vivid, nostalgic melodies materialize out of Kate’s musical arrangements, her songbird voice complimented by a rich rock ‘n’ roll bass-line. Alternating between achingly soulful and flippantly funny, Kate’s songwriting combines ranging sonic textures with an anecdotal knack. Her lyrics are novel and rhapsodic, cutting through the clichés and trivia of pop parlance to deliver something honest and truly perceptive.She’s performed at such illustrious venues as The Kennedy Center, The Bowery Ballroom, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall—as well as pretty much every noteworthy club in NYC.
 
Recently, Kate has shared the stage with such diverse artists as Alison Krauss, Josh Groban, Ben Folds, Sara Bareilles, and Renee Fleming. Her accolades include a Robert Allen Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and her arts advocacy work includes a presentation at TEDx Portland and participation in the 2010 National Arts Policy Roundtable.
 
Kate became a New York transplant in 2009, when she enrolled at Manhattan School of Music. There, she met guitarist Gabe Schnider and drummer Conor Szymanski, with whom she collaborated to develop her signature genre-defying sound. The trio continues to pair contagious melodies with crafted musical arrangements and to tell the kind of emotionally resonant stories you’ll remember long after the song is over.
 
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photo credit: Shervin Lainez

Eisa Davis is a multi-talented performer and writer recognized for her work in the Broadway musical Passing Strange, her stage memoir Angela’s Mixtape, and screen roles in Free Angela, Welcome To The Rileys (opposite James Gandolfini), The Wire, Smash, Hart of Dixie, and House of Cards. Her original music was featured regularly on the Showtime series Soul Food.She sings at venues including Joe’s Pub, Apollo Music Café, Symphony Space, BAMCafe, and many more. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play Bulrusher, an Obie winner for Sustained Excellence in Performance, and a Herb Alpert Award winner for her body of written work in theatre, Eisa continues to experiment at the nexus of drama and popular music in recordings, live performances and full length music-theatre pieces. Something Else and Tinctures are albums of her original music.
 
Eisa Davis official site

Born in Indiana and currently based in Brooklyn, Sarah recently released her debut indie-pop album “Stupid Things,” which was featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and ranked #17 on the iTunes pop charts as a result. Her album has been covered by over thirty publications, including Huffington Post, Seventeen Magazine, and Refinery29. She loves performing with The Songwriter’s Orchestra because it’s like doing the most beautiful kind of live karaoke in the whole world.
 
Sarah Dolley official site

Olivia Harris is a prolific songwriter who uses her Caribbean, funk and R&B roots to create soul fusion, a unique, funky, uplifting sound that will keep your toes tapping. She grew up in Brooklyn singing every Sunday in her church choir, while dancing to Michael Jackson, as well as the reggae and bachata outside her window. She began playing piano at four years old, then moved onto arranging and composing in her high school a cappella group, which influenced her to pursue a degree in music at Columbia University. There, jazz empowered her to use the variety of music she had grown up with to create her own take on R&B. As Olivia K, she has played such venues as The Bitter End and the Highline Ballroom. Most recently, she played Times Square’s EcoFest with her band Olivia K and the Parkers. She has performed with The Songwriter’s Orchestra at 54 Below and The Laurie Beechman Theatre.

JOHN-MICHAEL LYLES is two years out of Pace University’s BFA MT program and has since acted Off-Broadway in The Flick, Brooklynite & Jasper In Deadland. His musical theater compositions have been performed at 54 Below, Don’t Tell Mama & various NYMF concerts. Hailing from the belt buckle of the Bible Belt, where he grew up sangin’ and playing guitar in church, his musical stylings combine an old soul rhythm & blues sentimentality with a folksy guitar heartbeat, topped off with a wailing voice paying homage to Queen Aretha & King Stevie.
 
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A sure-footed young singer-songwriter,” in the words of The New York Times, Brooklyn-based songwriter Jean Rohe has been captivating audiences for years with her one-of-a-kind narrative songs. Her latest release, Jean Rohe & the End of the World Show, was hailed as “masterful” (Daily News) and “enchanting” (Elmore) and won three Independent Music Awards in 2014. “National Anthem: Arise! Arise!”, Jean’s aspirational alternative national anthem for the United States, has now been performed by choirs and artists across the country and was published last year in the second edition of the popular songbook Rise Up Singing. No Depression wrote, “Not only does she make astoundingly beautiful music but she is thoughtful, reflective, and courageous.”
 
Jean Rohe official site