Deidre McCalla sings of the politics and passions that fuel our lives.

A Black woman, mother, lesbian, feminist, Deidre has long stood at the forefront of acoustic singer-songwriters reshaping expectations of how Black folk do folk. She learned early on that life begins with an acoustic guitar, and Deidre’s songwriting carries an unyieldingly honest perspective expressed with a lyric touch that relentlessly celebrates the power and diversity of the human spirit. As a performer Deidre McCalla doesn’t merely take the stage - she owns it.

Affectionately dubbed a "dreadlocked troubadour" by the Miami New Times, Deidre McCalla blends folk, rock, country, and pop into a expression entirely her own.

In 1975, Deidre McCalla strode off the graduation dais at Vassar College straight onto the main stage of the 2nd National Women's Music Festival in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Deidre has held a steady presence in women's music and folk circles ever since, sharing stages with Joe Jencks, Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, Holly Near, Odetta, Cris Williamson, and Sweet Honey in the Rock, and touching audiences from Maui to Maine — church basements and college coffeehouses to Carnegie Hall.

Deidre McCalla spent 11 years recording with Olivia Records. Her first Olivia album, Don't Doubt It, is held in the Smithsonian's LGBT Collection at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and was named one of Ms. Magazine's 25 Classic Women's Music Albums. In 2021 Deidre received a SERFA Award from the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance for Distinguished Service and Exceptional Contributions to Folk Music in the Southeast region of Folk Alliance International and in 2023 the National Women’s Music Festival presented Deidre McCalla with the Jane Schliessman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women’s Music.

Deidre McCalla’s most recent album, Endless Grace, debuted at #1 on the June 2022 FAI Folk Radio Chart and was named one of the 10 Best Folk Albums of 2022 by PopMatters, Rhythms Magazine, and the Folk Alley Listener Favorites Poll. In 2023 her song Shoulder to the Wheel won the 19th Annual International Acoustic Music Award for Best Folk/Americana/Roots Song — making Deidre McCalla the first woman to win that category in IAMA history.

Sing Out! calls Deidre McCalla "one of our generation's most important singer-songwriters" and the Austin American-Statesman describes Deidre McCalla as a “distinctive voice in a crowded field of contemporary folk music.”

Currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Deidre McCalla had her very first album release, Fur Coats and Blue Jeans, on Roulette Records when she was 19. In addition to her Theater Arts B.A. from Vassar College, Deidre studied jazz guitar at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee.

Deidre McCalla has taught Performance at Warren Wilson College's Swannanoa Gathering, and Songwriting at Common Ground on the Hill. Deidre's work has been published in Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, The Original Coming Out Stories, and Chrysalis: A Feminist Quarterly, and she is featured in The Power of Words: A Transformative Language Arts Reader. Deidre McCalla is a proud member of AFM Local 1000 and the North American Folk Alliance.

DISCOGRAPHY

2022 Endless Grace—  MaidenRock Music
2003 Playing For Keeps—  MaidenRock Music
1992 Everyday Heroes & Heroines—  Olivia Records
1987 With A Little Luck—  Olivia Records
1985 Don't Doubt It— Olivia Records