Being a woman living in California by way of Texas, I can appreciate a good tune that is banjo/guitar heavy. Interestingly enough artist Shawna Virago's is just that - a genre melting pot meshes punk with undertones of blue-grass. Her latest single, "Last Night's Sugar," gives listeners a glimpse of variety that she encompasses as an artist.
Hailing from San Francisco, Virago is a transgender music pioneer celebrated for her striking lyric-based songs. Her music twists together folk, punk and trans-americana, offering raw observations about survival in a predatory world, queer love, sticking up for the underdog, and gender rebels.
Some will say she is "a woman before her time," however I'll say that she is a force. Accolades are given when due, she has been profiled in reputable publications such as: No Depression, the Huffington Post, Paste Magazine, Louder Than War, The Big Takeover, Bitch, The Advocate and Curve magazines and on left-of-the-dial radio.
Her talent doesn't stop there, she is also a published writer and her work appears in Gender Outlaws: Next Generation and in the anthologies Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love & Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary and Take Me There. Virago has been featured in documentary works on PBS and NPR. Virago composed original music for choreographer Sean Dorsey’s acclaimed dance theater work Uncovered: The Diary Project, about pioneering transman Lou Sullivan.
Taking over all fronts, Virago is one-to-watch. From behind the scenes to on stage, she is worth your attention. Maybe its something that we currently don't listen to, or its something that we haven't heard in a while, either way it's refreshing to hear a change.
Virago is versatile and heavily influenced tones of alt-radio, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw her on the stage with John Mayer and Dead and Company soon! Take a listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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