LOCAL ARTISTS SHINE Irena

“We’ve been together for 10 years! We came together after all working with different bands and meeting each other at different gigs. Some of us had worked together on different projects. We’ve had a couple of changes with players through the years, but the current lineup has been together, I’d say around 8 years. We all get along so well, like a blended family really. We like to describe our sound as Blues on the rocks with a twist of Blue Honey. What I mean by that is that we’re blues oriented, more towards the Blues/R&B sound, stuff with a groove. We do mostly covers, although we do have a few original tunes, but we add our own distinct flavor to the covers. We add our own flair! We have a great time when we perform and take pride in seeing the audience enjoy our show. It’s all about fun, right? We’re working on lots of new material at the moment, and will have some exciting new band news to be disclosed in the near future!”

Of course, part of celebrity responsibility means acknowledging the ways in which others before you have paved the way and opened doors, as well as passing the baton to future musicians.

“I should add that we’ve been fortunate, through the years, to open shows for Luther Guitar Junior Johnson, Coco Montoya, James Montgomery. We love performing at The Stomping Ground in Putnam, CT, The Hitching Post, B-Man’s 140, MCL. We do a lot of private parties and outdoor gigs in the good weather months. There is so much amazing talent in the Worcester area. I love seeing The Silverbacks when they play. I just got back, a couple of weeks ago, from Memphis where I went with friends to support The Matt Swanton Band, which was competing in the International Blues Challenge. They’re definitely a band to see. So much talent! This past summer we played on Rutland Common during their summer concert series. We were excited for that. Rutland is my hometown. They rebooked us for 2023!”

I had the good luck to catch Ladii Girl on a slow week and ask a few questions. Her single “She Can’t” is in regular rotation on my Spotify. Ladii Girl, whose given name is Johanna Hampton-Dance, has been immersed in music for a long time.

“I've been making music most of my life, writing, and singing in the church choir at AME Zion Baptist Church as a young girl, as well as the chorus in school, along with all city choirs during my high school years. It wasn't until 2012 that I became able to pursue music professionally. My sound is definitely R&B/Soul. It has an old school simplicity to it. Reminiscent to some of the greats of the soul genre. I hope to make it to the Grammy stage and become solidified amongst my peers in the Recording Academy.”

Even though Ladii Girl was not one of the award winners, the future looks mighty bright.

“I'm looking forward to gracing the sound stages this coming July at the Fleet Djs Conference in North Carolina. In addition, I really would love to explore more stages throughout New England. I feel like my music is most popular elsewhere and I want to captivate home too. I would have to give a short list of Elion V, Jordan Richardson, Nicholas Black, and Abbie Cotto. All very talented and community oriented.”

Winning in the ‘Best Tribute Band’ Category, Petty Larceny has already had a pretty impressive year. I was delighted to hear more about their journey.

“Petty Larceny consists of musicians from towns in Worcester and around Worcester, Shrewsbury, Westborough, all over Central Massachusetts, and we’ve been around a little over 10 years. It’s a great achievement to win our first one, after being nominated multiple years. We put a lot of effort to make it to various places after New England, and it felt like it paid off to put in the time with our fans. The 2020 shutdown was really rough. All of our savings were exhausted by the expenses of continuing to practice as a band without income. It was tough on our fans too since music was such an integral part of everyone’s lives. We got lucky with some weather and could play outdoors. People were incredibly dangerous, they understood how much this was ‘bands had ‘taken one on the chin’.”

Invigorated by the win, the band has big plans for the future. “Our goal is to continue to play different venues, a lot of favorite venues, more often, we love playing Greendale’s (they won too) we did the Revere Beach Sand Sculpture Festival, Madison Beach Hotel, and Bentley’s in Maine. We’re gonna be playing Starline Brewing in Hopkinton. So many great venues and lots of places that we like to play. We love listening to Boom Box; they know how to bring a party. Worcester area has so many good musicians, it’s not gonna be hard to find something.”

Worcester has no shortage of fantastic tribute bands; another notable band in that same vein, but more focused on Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks is Gold Dust Refugee. Ron Stacy, their Petty analog, was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about their origin story as well as their future plans.

“Gold Dust Refugee has been together for 4 -5 years; It began as a Tom Petty tribute band but it turned into a Fleetwood Mac because of the collaboration of Steve Nicks as well as Tom Petty. Our style is to really try hard to nail it as a tribute band, we really have to nail it. So much of what you’re getting with one of our performances is a theatrical production. We go all out. We’ve performed at Mohegan Sun and Twin River Casino before. One of our favorite local performers is ‘She’s Busy.’ That’s a band we like to follow.” my rock music. My biggest inspirations are the Eagles, Carrie Underwood, Bailey Zimmerman, Fleetwood Mac, State Champs, and Rush.”

Winning in the up-&-comer category, Evelynroze had a lot to say.

“I’d like to teach kids to keep faith in themselves despite the negativity and hate that resounds in this world. Unfortunately, my passion for music alienated me from my peers and as a result I dealt with bullying in all my years of school. However, I found myself releasing emotions by writing songs. My album titled “this one’s for u, all of u” will come out sometime in early to mid 2024.”

When I asked Evelynroze about any local influences or collaborations, she was quick to offer up a few updates and names. “I love Zigmont! They are so kind and we may be considering collaborating soon! My goal this year is for my band “Evelynroze + The Thornz”, my band, to play at Polar Park /WooSox Game on Fourth of July. The Members of my band “The Thornz” are Reid Plonsky: Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals, Ella Thayer: Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals, Tyler Crowley: Drums, Zac Brennan: Rhythm Guitar, BeccaStarr: Keyboards/Synth/Backing Vocals. I’ve been singing God Bless America at the Fourth of July games for two years now and would love to play a few songs pre fireworks!”

Taking home the ‘Best Jazz Act’ trophy was Moshi, whose smooth jazz ‘Weak Days’ gave me some great background tunes while I wrote this piece. They were able to put into words that which I never could, with regards to their sound.

“I was born with a passion for music in my heart. I grew up exposed to the Country Music & Classic Rock that my parents listened to, & around 5 yrs old began doing musical theater with Vanilla Box Productions. I’m a sophomore studying performing arts management at the Hartt School of Music at University of Hartford. My sound is reminiscent of Western Pop-Punk, Country-Rock and Southern-Rock, I also add a bit of rap into

“Our sound is RnB focused with heavy influence from jazz, funk, reggae. Anything with groove we can get down with. We just finished recording our 10 track album 'Marathon' and aim to release it in March. This summer we'll be playing up & down the east coast spreading our sound and promoting our debut release. We're also working on a tiny desk submission so you'll be able to catch Moshi on the big screen if you miss the upcoming tour. Moshi has been together and playing for about 4 years. Akiba Davis was playing a solo gig and caught the ear of guitarist Aaron Leger. They exchanged contact and began working out ideas, bringing in drummer Alex Monaco & bassist Matthew Alvarado-Ross shortly after.”

Moshi is thrilled to get back into live performances, not only as performers but as an audience. “Very excited to get back to our local favorite, Electric Haze. Also excited to play at the commonwealth campout in May which takes place at Camp Timber Trails. It's a sweet lil getaway in the woods with a ton of vendors and musicians from all over Massachusetts. We love Zigmont. They fuse styles and bend the rules of genre similar to how Moshi operates. An enigma of sorts. They're more rock based and the power trio brings a ton of passion to every performance. It's a cathartic sound experience. Highly recommend seeing them live. I believe their singer Jacob Leevai was nominated for best male vocalist and the group nominated for best jam/groove act along with Moshi.”

Though only very briefly, I was determined to get a little connection with Crocodile River Music, as they are one of my very favorite local institutions. I was fortunate to connect with someone on their Facebook page who were able to hand out some very welcome good news: “ Crocodile River Music just was designated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This new tax-exempt status will help us raise more funds to expand the impact of our African arts programming in our community. We're looking to increase our impact to see all of the youth in Worcester schools in the next coming years.” I know I am not alone in anticipating with a lot of joy a future in which this impact is felt.

Regardless of your preferred style of music, the Worcester Music Awards demonstrates that our city has something for everyone. It is hard to quell my sense of civic pride when I am confronted with so much talent and hustle; I encourage all of my readers to head over to Greendale’s, and Ralph’s and whatever other emerging venue in Worcester and allow yourself to be swept up in our boundless musical Worcesteria.

Best Blues/R&B