EPK
one of our generation's most important singer-songwriters
—Sing Out!
simple and moving
—PopMatters
pure inspiration
—Americana Highways
stirring songs that celebrate resilience and the power of the human spirit alongside relatable songs about the human experience: love, family, parenthood and loss.
—Americana UKÂ
Short Bio
Deidre McCalla - a Black woman, mother, lesbian, feminist - has long been in the forefront of Black musicians expanding the understanding of how Black folk can do folk. Deidre is riding high on her current release ENDLESS GRACE which dominated the June 2022 Folk Radio Charts as the #1 Album with the #1 Song - Shoulder To The Wheel and the #3 Song - I Do Not Walk This Path Alone, and finished for the year as the #13 Top Album on FAI Folk Radio. PopMatters, Rhythms Magazine, and the Folk Alley Listener Favorite’s Poll ranked ENDLESS GRACE among the 10 Best Folk Albums for 2022. In 2023 Deidre’s song Shoulder To The Wheel won the 19th Annual International Acoustic Music Award for Best Folk/Americana/Roots song.
Deidre McCalla learned at an early age that life begins with an acoustic guitar and her songwriting reveals an unyieldingly honest perspective expressed with a lyric touch that relentlessly celebrates the power and diversity of the human spirit.
Long Bio
Deidre McCalla doesn’t merely take the stage - she owns it. Her songs embody hope and celebration, struggle, loss, and longing - sometimes all in one song!
Deidre McCalla - Black woman, mother, lesbian, feminist - has long been in the forefront of Black musicians expanding the understanding of how Black folk can do folk. Deidre is riding high on her current release ENDLESS GRACE which dominated the June 2022 Folk Radio Charts as the #1 Album with the #1 Song - Shoulder To The Wheel and the #3 Song - I Do Not Walk This Path Alone, and finished for the year as the #13 Top Album. PopMatters, Rhythms Magazine, and the Folk Alley Listener Favorite’s Poll ranked ENDLESS GRACE among the 10 Best Folk albums for 2022. In 2023 Deidre’s song Shoulder To The Wheel won the 19th Annual International Acoustic Music Award for Best Folk/Americana/Roots Song.
Deidre McCalla learned at an early age that life begins with an acoustic guitar and her songwriting reveals an unyieldingly honest perspective expressed with a lyric touch that relentlessly celebrates the power and diversity of the human spirit.
Sing Out! praises Deidre as one of our generation’s most important singer-songwriters and The Austin-American Statesmen describes her as a highly distinctive voice in a crowded field of contemporary folk music. With five independent albums to her credit, Deidre McCalla has touched audiences from Maui to Maine, church basements and college coffeehouses to Carnegie Hall.
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. Deidre McCalla's first Olivia Records album Don’t Doubt It is included in the LGBT Collection at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History and listed by Ms Magazine as one of 25 Classic Women’s Music Albums.
Stage Introduction (convenient but completely optional)
Deidre McCalla doesn’t merely take the stage - she owns it. Her songs embody hope and celebration, struggle, loss, and longing - sometimes all in one song! Her most recent release ENDLESS GRACE dominated the June 2022 Folk Radio Charts as the #1 Album with the #1 Song, the #3 Song, and the #14 Song. For Year 2022, ENDLESS GRACE came in on the Folk Radio Chart as the 13th most played album.
ENDLESS GRACE was #1 in the Folk Alley Listener Favorites Poll for 2022, Pop Matters and Rhythms Magazine named it one of the 10 Best Folk Albums of the year, and in 2023 Deidre's song Shoulder To The Wheel received an International Acoustic Music Award for Best Folk/Americana/Roots Song.
Short Bio
Deidre McCalla - a Black woman, mother, lesbian, feminist - has long been in the forefront of Black musicians redefining the understanding of how Black folk do folk. Deidre is riding high on her current release Endless Grace which dominated the June 2022 Folk Radio Charts as the #1 Album with the #1 Song - Shoulder To The Wheel and the #3 Song - I Do Not Walk This Path Alone, and finished for the year as the #13 Top Album on FAI Folk Radio. PopMatters, Rhythms Magazine, and the Folk Alley Listener Favorite’s Poll ranked Endless Grace among the Ten Best Folk Albums for 2022. In 2023 Deidre’s song Shoulder To The Wheel won the 19th Annual International Acoustic Music Award for Best Folk/Americana/Roots song.
Deidre McCalla learned at an early age that life begins with an acoustic guitar and her songwriting reveals an unyieldingly honest perspective expressed with a lyric touch that relentlessly celebrates the power and diversity of the human spirit.
Long Bio
Deidre McCalla doesn’t merely take the stage - she owns it. Her songs embody hope and celebration, struggle, loss, and longing - sometimes all in one song!
Deidre McCalla - Black woman, mother, lesbian, feminist - has long been in the forefront of Black musicians redefining the understanding of how Black folk do folk. Deidre is riding high on her current release ENDLESS GRACE which dominated the June 2022 Folk Radio Charts as the #1 Album with the #1 Song - Shoulder To The Wheel and the #3 Song - I Do Not Walk This Path Alone, and finished for the year as the #13 Top Album. PopMatters, Rhythms Magazine, and the Folk Alley Listener Favorite’s Poll ranked ENDLESS GRACE among the 10 Best Folk albums for 2022. In 2023 Deidre’s song Shoulder To The Wheel won the 19th Annual International Acoustic Music Award for Best Folk/Americana/Roots Song.
Deidre McCalla learned at an early age that life begins with an acoustic guitar and her songwriting reveals an unyieldingly honest perspective expressed with a lyric touch that relentlessly celebrates the power and diversity of the human spirit.
Sing Out! praises Deidre as one of our generation’s most important singer-songwriters and The Austin-American Statesmen describes her as a highly distinctive voice in a crowded field of contemporary folk music. With five independent albums to her credit, Deidre McCalla has touched audiences from Maui to Maine, church basements and college coffeehouses to Carnegie Hall.
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. Deidre McCalla's first Olivia Records album Don’t Doubt It is included in the LGBT Collection at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History and listed by Ms Magazine as one of 25 Classic Women’s Music Albums.
Stage Introduction (convenient but completely optional)
Deidre McCalla doesn’t merely take the stage - she owns it. Her songs embody hope and celebration, struggle, loss, and longing - sometimes all in one song! Her most recent release ENDLESS GRACE dominated the June 2022 Folk Radio Charts as the #1 Album with the #1 Song, the #3 Song, and the #14 Song. For Year 2022, ENDLESS GRACE came in on the Folk Radio Chart as the 13th most played album.
ENDLESS GRACE was #1 in the Folk Alley Listener Favorites Poll for 2022, Pop Matters and Rhythms Magazine named it one of the 10 Best Folk Albums of the year, and in 2023 Deidre's song Shoulder To The Wheel received an International Acoustic Music Award for Best Folk/Americana/Roots Song.