Alternative tragic Americana, invocations for peace & judgment reshaping with bleeding heart stream of consciousness poems. Originally from Connecticut, before becoming a western transplant, Anna May is a singular artist whose songs bear a placelessness that lends to their timeless nature. Anna is a critically acclaimed songwriter & vocalist who strives to bring jazz elements into the format of folk.
The deep exploration of heartbreak and trauma has been an ongoing quest throughout Anna's work.
Her lyrics have been heavily textured by a lonesome whimsicality that finds itself most at home in the vastness of the American West. Anna's music honors the nomadic spirit with memory, meditation & fresh interpretations of folk music and jazz influence. She honors a hope to enhance connection, humility, healing, and joy among people in the process of parting with typical genre rules.
Anna's lyrical sensibility is steeped in wisdom, and layered with evocative musicality and metaphysical embroidery while eschewing the mainstream & parting with platitudes. Anna explores both estrangement and connection while taking cues from artists like Billie Holiday, Shawn Colvin, Neil Young, Mazzy Star, Lana del Rey, and Leonard Cohen. As a yogi, pianist, teacher & poet, she masterfully blends all of her influences into her songwriting. Her songs are tender, immersive, moodscapes & a deep dive into introspective, meditative soundscapery with an expansive, western folk flare, while exploring the fragile intersection of nature & humanity.
Ethereal & whimsical, sensitive & heavy, Anna blends the musical influence of her classical, folk & jazz rooted upbringing, into a wholly unique creative trajectory. From a youth spent submerged in sonic textures, to teenage years discovering visionaries of folk & authenticity, like Dylan & many others, Anna has over time deepened the resonance, resolve and clarity of a voice that is distinctly her own and that craves truthful expression. She has as much an affinity for jazz and fifties pop as she does for folk & 90s alternative ..
all serving to enhance the understated power of her songs, with an ultimate quest for the healing medicine of meditation, hope in the landscapes of oppression & a great need to explore weighty societal & spiritual themes & concepts of social justice. Anna has opened for artists like Kacy Hill, Amythyst Kiah, The Arcadian Wild, People Museum & Jann Klose. Upcoming : Field Guide, Rupert Wates, Nova One.
Anna has performed at wildflower music & arts festival, treefort music festival, boston arts festival, water lantern festival, trout lake hall, abbey arts in seattle, Globe Hall in Denver, Sheridan Opera House in Telluride, Club Passim in Boston, Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, Brick and Mortar Music Hall in San Francisco, Volcanic Theater Pub in Bend, Broadway Comedy Club in Manhattan, the Mint in Los Angeles, Trip in Santa Monica, Spiderhouse Ballroom in Austin, Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, Wall Street Theater in CT, Crying Wolf in Nashville, High Dive in Seattle, Bristol's Cider House in Atascadero, Tennessee Brew Works in Nashville, The Cobra in Nashville, Franklin's Main Street Festival, Larimer Lounge in Denver, PNC Live Studio, Camden Public Library, Duxbury Free Library, East Lyme Library, Burlington City Arts, and many more.
Anna has been featured in publications like zo magazine, V13 media, indie boulevard, C Heads Magazine, Medium, Shout Out LA, Music Crowns, Music Mecca, Voyage LA, New Noise Magazine, Vents Magazine, Fame Magazine, Skope Magazine, A & R Factory, The Curiosity Hour Podcast, the Something Rather Than Nothing Podcast, Thrive Global, Northern Public Radio, Louder Than War, Authority Magazine, Music Hunger, We Write About Music, Lost in the Nordics, Beach House Magazine, Doppio Magazine, Broken Color Blog, The New London Day, The CT Post, Vox Wave Magazine, Music City Memo, The Sounds Won't Stop, Luther Lucals, Music Matters podcast, She Makes Music UK, Nashville Indie, the old grey cat blog & others. Anna May was nominated for best Indie song of 2023 by Indie Boulevard Magazine. In 2024, Anna's song The Show was featured as song of the day by kutx in Austin. Anna was featured as track of the day in 2024 by The Other Side Reviews. In 2024, Anna was a featured guest on NPR's Great American Folk Show. In 2025, Anna will be featured on Lost River Sessions on WKU PBS, WDVX Blue Plate Special & WEXT Radio.