Bess McCrary

With a sound that defies simple description, Bess McCrary’s music must be summed up in one scant word: enigmatic. If you had to, you could ask the listener to conjure up a union between Tori Amos and Richard Rogers, conceived on a bed built by Motown, with Dorothy Parker watching. Bess McCrary’s lyrics are profound, her songwriting brave, and the way she uses her classically trained, formally jazz-and-swing singing voice is simply unique. North Carolina-born but based in New York City, Bess McCrary is an alchemist of both pain and joy, managing to present them together in almost every song. Unable to tie her musical soul down to one, beloved style, McCrary embraces genre promiscuously and goes where the emotion of the song takes her as both a songwriter and a singer. Her first full-length album, for Happy, came out in 2013 and her follow-up LP, Resurrect Me, will be released in 2015. Resurrect Me follows a bout with cancer that caused permanent nerve damage to McCrary’s voice, and the experience made for immensely potent, visceral songs. Recently chosen as an Artist-in-Residence by the Serenbe Community for May of 2015, Bess also performs regularly in the US with her full band and with smaller ensembles.
Visit www.bessmccrary.com for more info on this dynamic performer and songwriter.