Watch: Becca Stevens (Solo) – “Canyon Dust”

Simply put, the music of Becca Stevens draws you in. It is, in the words of The New York Times, "impressively absorbing" from the first note, a captivating marriage of "big voice and no-bull emotional delivery" (The Boston Phoenix) and rhythmically invigorating acoustic guitar (and a host of related instruments).Born and raised in North Carolina, Becca has been honing her craft as long as she can remember. Her father and mother are both musicians, and Becca started singing in the family band, the Tune Mammals, at the tender age of two. "My parents are both working musicians and performers," Becca says. "The first sounds I heard in the delivery room were my dad playing an Irish slip jig on the fiddle. The tune was 'The Kid on the Mountain'; I still cry when I hear it." Childhood was a blur of singing, acting, and dancing, and a formative period in which the artist absorbed some of the most pronounced elements of her sound: the traditions of jazz and classical guitar, and folk music of North Carolina. Becca adds, "I grew up with the sounds of music and composing and singing and rehearsing around me all the time, so it was always a very natural thing for me."Becca moved to New York to attend The New School, and quickly became known as one of the city's "best-kept secrets" (The New York Times). She formed her own group, the Becca Stevens Band, with fellow New School students Liam Robinson (accordion, keyboards), Chris Tordini (bass), and Jordan Perlson (drums, percussion), which has released two albums, Tea Bye Sea (self-released), and Weightless (Sunnyside). Becca is also sought after as a collaborator, having performed with the likes of Brad Mehldau, Taylor Eigsti, Eric Harland, Clarence Penn, and Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra, among many others. She and fellow songstresses Gretchen Parlato and Rebecca Martin co-led TILLERY. Becca speaks:

Every day I learn from the music of composers who have come before me and on whose shoulders I stand, and from my experiences from the profound to the trivial. My focus as an artist is to cast those exerpiences in a musical and poetic language that will resonate with the listener and affect a moment, a day or a life.

Becca has been performing on our stage regularly since her New School days, and we look forward to welcoming her back for two nights of solo performances this Friday and Saturday. Expect to be at the edge of your seat, with bated breath, drawn in.Check out this video of Becca performing "Canyon Dust" alone, live at A-Trane in Berlin.