“…she has that very real conviction that the act of listening and the feeling of being heard are fundamental human needs…there’s that sense of purpose in the language that she chooses, that sense of speaking in a collective way in the language that she chooses...It’s stately, noble language, and sometimes it’s optimistic, and sometimes it’s more confrontational…it’s always emphatic, but it’s also warm.” - NPR
"Listen highlights Kyshona’s descriptive songwriting and soulful vocals alongside a versatile blend of folk, rock and R&B influences. While Kyshona sings of fear, hope, community, love and understanding throughout the 10-track project, she also finds herself.” - Billboard
“…a soulful, Southern groove” - Rolling Stone
“This is protest music for a new generation, a musical treatment for social ills, a unique prescription that only works if you listen.” - No Depression
"Everyone is making political records. Everyone is making albums that speak to 'this moment.' Too few of them are making music that speaks to the people who inhabit this moment. Kyshona does." - The Bluegrass Situation
“With an ambition ‘to bring the light of music into places of darkness,’ it’s clear that ‘Fear’ and the other nine tracks from her upcoming LP unapologetically and convincingly do just that.” - American Songwriter
“Electrifying” - The Boot
"Listen is refreshingly low-concept: a powerful, textured voice working its way through equally strong songs. But what's most striking about the album is how natural [Kyshona] sounds. The sincerity hits you hard…There’s a confidence, comfort, and catharsis in her vocals, effortless without sounding passive, warm without sounding too inviting. Listen feels therapeutic, not just providing enjoyable songs that range from soul to rhythm and blues to rock to pop, but maybe even providing a blueprint for how to be, as a human being.” - Albumism
"Kyshona...has a warm, rich voice that commands you to pay attention. On her new album Listen, however, she’s chosen to make a powerful statement about what we can learn when we close our mouths and truly take in what others have to say." - The Nashville Scene
"The melodies are catchy, but it’s the lyrics that really grab the attention on this album. [Kyshona] sings with the undeniable spirit and conviction that was more common in the tumultuous 60s. However, through all the turmoil of the times, the message is ultimately one of hope that leaves you believing things will get better." - Americana Highways
Today, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Kyshona has released her highly-acclaimed new album Listen. Co-produced with Andrija Tokic (St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Alabama Shakes, Hurray For The Riff Raff) and recorded mostly at his famed Nashville studio The Bomb Shelter, Kyshona’s album blends roots, rock, R&B, gospel, and folk with lyrical prowess to uplift the marginalized and bring awareness to the masses.
STREAM: LISTEN
Kyshona, who has performed at Folk Alliance International, AmericanaFest-UK, 30A Songwriters Festival, and in an art installation at Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in the last two months, has made an indelible impression with her new LP. “The explorations on her brand new album, Listen — which are synopsized neatly on the title track — by many other artists could have easily and offhandedly devolved into a reactionary, ‘woke’ gasp into the void,” commented The Bluegrass Situation. “Kyshona (surname Armstrong), though, is a deft and empathetic songwriter, a storyteller with a penchant for shameless self expression and graceful introspection. Listen is not an admonishment. It’s not an imperative, or an oracle-given ultimatum. Kyshona does not implore her audience to hear her, but each other. Over ten original and co-written songs the album carries on this mission with empathy, connection, community, and spirituality (but not proselytizing.) It’s a remarkable feat that though society systemically attempts to render her and women like her invisible, assuming that they’ll stand aside or allow themselves to be tokenized, Kyshona compassionately defies those expectations and opts to design her selfhood — and thereby, her art — to interact with the world on her terms and not the world’s.”
WATCH: "LISTEN”
“Since completing this album, there has been a theme that keeps coming up: fear,” Kyshona told Billboard in their premiere of the album. “Fear of being ignored, fear of being seen. Fear of being misunderstood. Fear of being abandoned and alone. But every night I have walked on a stage or into a space and stood in that fear, I’ve been shown that I can not only conquer them, but that those fears allow me to connect with people. That’s what I have wanted this album to be: a reflection that allows connection.”
WATCH: "FALLEN PEOPLE”
“People feel permission. This allows them to feel they can have control, they can build a community through music,” Kyshona told The News & Advance of the connection she forges with her audiences. “Her new LP, Listen, released this month, asks the audience ‘are we even listening to each other?” continues The News & Advance. “Even when she’s writing about others, she said, their stories are also hers — ‘This is the gospel of the people.’ In a crowd of people, all with differing beliefs, political stances or conflicting ideals, it’s music, [Kyshona] said, that offers unity.”
Kyshona has always lent her voice and music to those that feel silenced or forgotten. She began her career as a music therapist, writing her first songs with her patients – the students and inmates under her care. She soon found the need to write independently and find her own voice, an endeavor that led her to the fertile ground of the Nashville creative community and its collaborative songwriting culture. Kyshona has successfully melded her music career with her passion to heal the hurting; audiences will find a common thread of empowerment, overcoming adversity, and finding hope in her work. It's for every silent scream, every heavy load, every fearful thought, and a simmering sense of anger that the repressed, the lost, and the forgotten try to hide from the world. "I’ve been thinking a lot about purpose," she says. "When I write and when I perform I am often thinking of what my point is. What is my purpose? What is my mission? At this particular moment in these particular times, my mission is to be a voice and a vessel for those who feel silenced and forgotten." After her powerful performances, concertgoers often ask, "What can I do?" Her response? “Listen."
TOUR DATES:
3/5 - 20 Front Street - Lake Orion, MI
3/6 - The Robin Theatre - Lansing, MI
⅜ - Hines Hill Conference Center - Peninsula, OH
3/13 - WMOT Finally Friday @ 3rd & Lindsley - Nashville, TN
3/13 - Gray’s On Main - Franklin. TN
3/22 - The Frog Pond at Blue Moon Farm - Silver Hill, AL
3/24 - Tin Pan South 2020 - Nashville, TN
3/26 - Agnes Scott College - Decatur, GA
3/27 - Hendershot’s - Athens, GA
3/28 - Music On Malphrus - Bluffton, SC
4/3 - South Bay House Concert - Los Altos, CA
4/4 - Fog House Concerts - San Francisco, CA
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4/9 - National Folk Festival 2020 - Canberra, ACT, Australia
4/17 - 4/19 - Fairbridge Folk Fest 2020 - Perth, WA, Australia
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4/24 - Gray’s On Main - Franklin. TN
4/29 - White Gull Inn - Fish Creek, WI
5/1 - Severson Dells Nature Center - Rockford, IL
⅚ - Purple House Concerts -Tallahassee, FL
5/7 - WUWF Radio Live - Pensacola, FL
⅝ - The Rep Theater - Santa Rosa Beach, FL
5/22 - Kerrville Folk Fest 2020 - Kerrville, TX
6/7 - NPR Mountain Stage - Charleston, WV
6/21 - Chestnut House Concerts - Lancaster, PA
6/25 - Iredell Arts Council - Statesville, NC