As the daughter of a minister and kin to a lot of church folk Nikki grew up listening to traditional gospel/christian music and spent much of her grade school days involved in school band playing clarinet and oboe. But, despite her early exposure to music, it wasn’t until the tender age of 28 when she finally began to start making music of her own.

Nikki was born and raised in North Carolina but Chicago is where she found her first home as a performer and songwriter. Starting out in the open mic scene it didn’t take long for her to garner local support and make her way to some great stages around the midwest: opening for acts such as Jaime Wyatt, Caroline Spence, Boo Ray, and Sean Watkins.

She is a former winner of the awarded Uncommon Ground Songwriting competition; she has been voted as a ‘Judge’s Pick’ in the Nashville Rising Song contest, and recently had her single Love.Save.Me make it to the semi-final round of the International Songwriting Competition.

Nikki finds a way to combine captivating melodies and insightful lyrics with a voice full of raw passion. Her music is unapologetic in it efforts to grapple with real life; and yet elegantly embodies the essence of her “Carolina Soul”.

Official Website

Johanna Rose

(New Orleans, LA)

Genre: Americana

Johanna Rose is a New Orleans-based singer, songwriter, upright bassist, and street performer making music that lives somewhere between jazz and the gutter. Her sound — smoky, sultry, sometimes chaotic — walks the line between beauty and grit. With vocals that can cut or soothe, and bass lines that feel like heartbeat and tension at once, Rose builds songs that don’t ask permission. It’s jazz with a crooked grin — rooted in tradition, but not staying there.