ROBERTA LEA • QUEEN ESTHER • DENITIA • JULIE WILLIAMS

BLACK OPRY REVUE

Black Opry is a home for Black artists and Black fans of country, blues, folk, and Americana music. Country music has been made by and loved by Black people since it’s conception. For just as long, we have been overlooked and disregarded in the genre by fans and executives. Black Opry wants to change that. We invite you to discover, support and enjoy the Black artists that make magic in this space. One of the most valuable aspects of country music is its versatility and diversity in sound. Country, blues, folk, and Americana music often overlap or weave together- these artists explore all of those sounds and intersections. The Black Opry Revue showcases the diversity in sound and stories that Black artists offer to these genres.

ROBERTA LEA

With a voice like cinnamon and a pen like butter, Roberta Lea is a rising artist, ready to give the world a taste of what she's made of. Fellow artists have called her Hampton Roads’ best kept secret. It's as though she's a family recipe, kept hidden until now.

Fellow musicians have described her sound as "country-neo-pop". As a millennial, it's often quite difficult to pin her down to one particular genre. Her influences range from 80s RnB legends like Roberta Flack, Anita Baker and Sade, to pop 90s girl-power players like Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain and everything in between.

"One of my biggest references as an artist right now is Tina Turner" Lea says. "Although she's always been a dominating presence in pop-culture as the the Queen of Rock n' Roll, recently I've rediscovered her through the lens of country music."

Lea finds comfort in Tina's raspy vocals as she explores the uniqueness of her own voice. She's been described vocally as a Tina Turner/Macy Gray grit, lyrically clever like George Strait, incorporates some Pop-fun like Shania Twain and at times delivers her slower, more sentimental material like Norah Jones.

Pursuing music at 35 may seem like it's a late start for some, but for Roberta Lea, it's ideal. She's been slowly marinating and soaking in LIFE. Now that she's ready to do music, she has a buffet of songs that are sure to appease any listener's pallet.

Just ask the Black Opry. Her single “Sweet Baby Ray” hit the spot in the hearts of fellow artists and music lovers alike and drove her to record her very first country project “Just A Taste”. Now, she’s been nominated for 6 music awards including Song of the Year and Best E.P.! “Just A Taste” showcases the different flavors of country she infuses in her songwriting. She goes from classic country, to country soul, country rock, pop country and country folk. As a songwriter, she has no limits when it comes to expressing herself through song and telling a good story.

As a Virginian, Roberta Lea follows a long list of iconic artists and hitmakers. From classics like Ella Fitzgerald and Patsy Cline, to icons like Pharrel, Timberland, and Missy Elliot, legends like The Dave Matthews Band and Pat Benatar, to modern day rising stars like Old Dominion and Morgan Wade. As a songwriter and an artist, she’s in great company and confident that she's next.

QUEEN ESTHER

Gild The Black Lily's Black Americana sound was curated by Harlem-based vocalist, songwriter, musician, and producer Queen Esther. She was raised in Atlanta, Georgia and rooted in Charleston, South Carolina’s culturally rich and enigmatic Lowcountry, a region with African traditions and Black folkways that span centuries and continue to inform her work. Her creative output musically is the culmination of several critical Southern elements, not the least of which are years of recording and touring internationally as frontwoman for several projects with her mentor, harmolodic guitar icon James “Blood” Ulmer, including a stint in his seminal band Odyssey.

Gild The Black Lily was recorded at Brooklyn’s Mighty Toad Recording Studio with engineer/owner Craig Dreyer at the helm and produced by Queen Esther. These 13 songs include originals from Queen Esther as well as covers from Son House, Chip Robinson of The Backsliders, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Eagles, and George Jones, with performances from guitarist Boo Reiners (Demolition String Band), bassist Hilliard Greene (Little Jimmy Scott), organist and Thelonious Monk specialist Gregory Lewis, guitarist Jeff McLaughlin and drummer Shirazette Tinnin.

A member of SAG/AFTRA and Actors Equity as well as the Dramatist's Guild and the Recording Academy, Queen Esther’s work in New York City as a vocalist, lyricist, songwriter, actor, solo performer, playwright and librettist has led to creative collaborations in neo-vaudeville, alt-theater, various alt-rock configurations, (neo) swing bands, trip-hop DJs, spoken word performances, jazz combos, jam bands, various blues configurations, original Off-Broadway plays and musicals, experimental music/art noise and performance art. Musical theater credits include principal work in RENT (original cast, first national tour) and George C. Wolfe's Harlem Song at The Apollo Theater -- noted for being the only musical in the venue's nearly 100 year history to receive an open-ended run.

She has performed and or recorded with Speedball Baby, Mona’s Hot Five, Eyal Vilner Big Band, Burnt Sugar Arkestra, Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra, Richard Barone (The Bongos), Elliot Sharp (as the alt-blues duo Hoosegow), Swingadelic, LaLa Brooks (The Crystals), Dusty Wright, The Hot Toddies, Dan Levinson’s Jass Band and The Dirtbombs, amongst others. Recent highlights include a TED Talk about the true origins of bluegrass and country music; a Black Americana performance at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, Ill; Blackbirding, a new solo show performed at the Royal Family Theater’s Female Forward Festival; a performance workshop for The Hang, a new jazz musical by Taylor Mac; a month-long All Media Artist Residency at Gettysburg National Military Park; sold-out performances of Queen Esther Sings Lady Day: The Lost Classics at Dizzy’s in New York City’s Lincoln Center; and Millenium Stage performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

With each song on the album Gild The Black Lily, the Blackness that raised her moves steadily from The Old West (The Black Cowgirl Song) and the foundations of the Black church (John The Revelator) to heartbreak (He Thinks I Still Care) with soulful declarations (All That We Are) and country-rock reworked into black country soul (Take It To The Limit) and back again. Ultimately, this album reveals and illuminates many facets of the Black sonic experience.

DENITIA

Denitia is a musician who exemplifies American cultural enlightenment, a dynamic artist seeking foundation in the roots of history and style in modern conception. As a singer-songwriter based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Denitia’s portfolio spans states, cities and times, her catalog inspired by the lost narratives of her past and contemporary tapestry she’s sown together over time.

And her career is only on the rise.

Born and raised outside Houston, Denitia’s southern heritage forms a canvas for her evolving musical portrait. She grew up listening to the legends of country and folk, while leading choirs and spiritual awakenings at her local church. By five, she was playing piano. Soon thereafter, she brought out a saxophone and trumpet. When alternative rock hit the airwaves, Denitia picked up a guitar and joined the revolution. There was no challenge too obscure.

Denitia’s Christian upbringing opened her ears to harmony, gusto and intention, while the radio brought out something raw, edgy and passionate. From a trailer in the woods, she spent her days studying the art of rock, alt-grunge, and self-revelation, melding it with her baseline in traditional roots music. Self-taught and unafraid, Denitia improvised her newfound language with the guitar and keyboard, and gained confidence performing at praise and worship services. She carried these experiences with her when she moved to Nashville for college, and resurrected them again in the heart of Brooklyn, where she spent 11 years evolving her sound with urban flair, shifting her vision subtly with the skyline.

Now, with the start of a new year and world still spiraling from the global pandemic, Denitia shares a storybook of new work, taking listeners on a drive through the lanes of love and longing over the course of American grandeur. Denitia’s lens stays on the periphery, never losing sight of the horizon as she relives moments of magic in her life. Soulful and passionate, Denitia sings with intentional restraint, seeking an outlet from isolation, a break from monotony, and a dream for the past reclaimed.

Written alone in her studio and virtually with a longtime songwriting partner, her new music embodies elements of country, folk and rock with an alternative twist that is decidedly Denitia. There are moments of melancholia, surpassed by periods of contentment and joy. The story winds its way amidst ups and downs, sunshine and starlight, sweet tea on the porch and unsettled romantic incursions. It’s a journey through emotion, time and place.

With her upcoming release, Denitia establishes a newfound American utopia, ongoing and indefinite, uplifted by wistful vocals and the chimes of a tambourine. She illustrates her eclecticism and dualities as an artist in a quest to seek the soulful sounds and legends of her people. On the way to reimagining home, these songs are Denitia’s mantras, the melodies her spirit, the stories her own.

JULIE WILLIAMS

Fearlessly forging ahead down country roads, singer-songwriter Julie Williams is turning heads in Nashville’s country music scene with the soft but powerful songs that capture the soul of growing up as a mixed-race child in the South.

Music has always been a part of Julie’s life - honing her singing talent in church and beach bars and belting national anthems before packed stadiums. She grew up listening to everyone and everything, from The Chicks and James Taylor, to Gladys Knight and Michael Jackson. Even though she was drawn to the storytelling of country music, she never quite found the sound that spoke to everything she was: Black, white, Southern, a woman, hopeful, truthful. So naturally, it was up to Julie to make this sound. “My music is mixed like me,” is how she describes it, “I want to tell the stories that need to be told.”

Julie started sharing those stories, and the people listened. A student at Duke University, Julie was signed to Small Town Records whose alumni include Mike Posner and Delta Rae and sang as a vocalist for the Duke Jazz Ensemble. In April 2019, she released her debut EP, Lovecycle, earning a feature in People of Duke Arts in 2019. After graduating with a public policy degree in 2019, she moved to Nashville, where she became a regular host of The Song Suffragettes, Nashville’s premier collective of female singer-songwriters, and performed her upcoming single Southern Curls at the State of Tennessee’s 100th anniversary celebration of the 19th amendment. She was named in Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Class of 2021 and featured on She Wolf Radio’s Ones 2 Watch list. In April 2021, she was featured in a PBS NewsHour special on Black women in country music.

“People want to hear black voices, black stories,” Julie always says. “I was nervous about how my songs would be received by Nashville - but people want honesty. They want honest songs about real life, and for the artists they follow to take a stand.” Julie´s upcoming single Southern Curls embodies this - making waves with her soulful lyrics about the struggles of growing up mixed in the South, aiming for the heart and striking true. Her fans responded by raising over $5000 in only one week to fund the song´s music video that was brought to life by an all black creative team. The single and music video, released in March 2021, covered by Billboard, CMT, World of Country, and numerous music publications.

Julie has begun touring the country with the Black Opry Revue, a showcase featuring Black artists in country, blues, folk, and Americana music, and performed at their CMT-sponsored anniversary gala in April 2022 that was covered by NBC News. Julie is taking the stage with the group at CMA Fest in Nashville in June 2022 and will follow this performance with her first solo tour. The tour will bring Julie and her songs across the country and globe - with performances in London, Nashville, Charlotte, Washington, D.C, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston.

“I’m writing my songs for the 10-year old girl who cries in the shower as she tries to detangle her hair and is afraid to look in the mirror because she hates what she sees; for the 20-year-old who is just now learning to love herself; for the new mom that wants her daughters and sons to love themselves as themselves and to hear music that celebrates them. That’s who my songs are for.”