Kyshona Kicks Off Fogartyville Season In Sarasota, FL

Kyshona Armstron, a music therapist gone rogue, hails from the small town of Irmo, SC. She grew up listening to her grandfathers singing in the gospel choir, aunts and uncles singing old Sam Cooke tunes around the electric guitar amps, and her father practicing the guitar solo from “Hello” by Lionel Richie… on repeat.

Armstrong focused on oboe at the University of Georgia and played steel drums in the college’s Hawaiian-shirt-sporting ensemble, Tropical Breeze. But since neither instrument was all that well suited to coaxing patients into musical self-expression, she got into singing, playing acoustic guitar and songwriting. Deemed “One of the most compassionate and uplifting young voices in Nashville today,” by NPR Music’s World Café, Kyshona has always lent her voice and music to those that feel they have been silenced or forgotten. Kyshona will play the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center on Sunday, October 6 at 7pm. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Advance tickets are available online at wslr.org or by calling 1-800-838-3006.

Kyshona Armstrong has a natural gift for using music to tap into emotion. She began her career as a music therapist, working in mental health hospitals and correctional facilities, writing music with her patients and using music to redirect behaviors and emotions. Kyshona soon found the need to write music independently to help her process her daily experiences with her clients.

Audiences will often find a common thread of overcoming, hope, and empowerment in her songwriting and storytelling. She uses her emotional intelligence to create her unique bluesy and soulful style of music. Her latest album, “The Ride”, shows off vocal stylings that are reminiscent of Aretha Franklin, Etta James and Al Green.

Kyshona’s music has been heard on prime time television’s Criminal Minds, Salvation, Conviction and Midnight Texas. She has recorded with Grammy Award winning producer, Paul Worley (Dixie Chicks, Lady Antebellum, Big and Rich), Jamie Lidell (Jamie Lidell, Allen Stone) and Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Margo Price, AHI). Kyshona has had the privilege of sharing the stage with Wynonna Judd, Lake Street Dive, Meiko, Margo Price, Even Stevens, JD McPherson, Anthony David, Cracker, and many more

WSLR/Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center
525 Kumquat Court
Sarasota, FL 34236

Photo from Fogartyville.