“I’m a part of the roots rock band Shiny Shiny Black. That is my primary medium. The biggest role I play is on the songwriting end and helping shape kind of the overall ‘Who are we and what do we want to be as artists? What do we want to put in the world?’ My partner is my husband, Nate, who is the main frontperson. We’ve been experimenting with sharing lead vocals a little bit more, especially this year. He’s the soundscape person. I tend to be the word person. I’m also a poet and writer, so that’s kind of the piece that I bring.
Just to focus on this year, because it’s been such a different kind of year, I personally have been really thrilled to have collaborated with Nate. We also have brought Jon Reuel in on our songwriting process this year, where we could really respond to what was happening with a song. So we’ve done more of a ‘Let’s release a single’ to the moment it’s happening. We put out the song ‘One Foot in Front of the Other’ and then we invited a bunch of local musicians to collaborate on a video for it, where we added parts. That was the moment where you just feel like, ‘Now we’re living up to some level of our ideal of what we would love this to be – the way that music could encourage a community.’ The song was for a broader thing and a way of encouraging people when COVID hit and everyone was like, ‘What is happening right now?’ Just that sense of art having a role in a community and giving a voice to what people are feeling at this moment. That was super exciting.
I love what Goshen is nurturing. I think now that we’re really several decades into artists being present and people showing up to support artists in various ways, there’s kind of a flourishing of goodwill among artists and creatives in the area that’s really exciting. It’s always fun when you see awesome collaborations or partnerships popping up here and there. I think people are really supportive and hopeful about what people can achieve from this community in this space. That’s one of the reasons we stayed and one of the reasons we keep being here.”
