Southern fried country comes to Mareel

Shetland audiences will experience a taste of the US south next month when country artistes Meaghan Blanchard and Amythyst Kiah play Mareel on 28th July.

The event, presented by Shetland Arts, is being run in association with Perth’s Southern Fried Festival.

Blanchard is a singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island in Canada. Born into a musical family, she started writing songs at the age 12, and cites her country singing grandmother as her biggest influence.

She is known for moving songs and beautiful captivating voice. In 2014 she won her second East Coast Music Award in three years for her most recent album She’s Gonna Fly, and her latest single Crash has just been released to great acclaim.

Blanchard was also one of the featured performers in the television special The Songs of Gene MacLellan, writer of such hit songs as Snowbird and Put Your Hand In The Hand. She also performed for Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their honeymoon tour of Canada and has appeared at a number of festivals including the Cavendish Country Festival, Mariposa, Deep Roots, Stanfest, Maritime Acoustic, PEI Jazz and Blues Festival, Small Halls, the Indian River Festival and the Rock The Boat festival.

From Johnson City, Tennessee, Kiah describes herself as a southern gothic, alt-country blues singer-songwriter. Her influences are eclectic and span across decades, drawing heavily on old-time, rhythm and blues and country and are channelled through her stunning powerhouse voice into highly distinctive originals and classics alike.

Kiah recently performed on Mountain Stage and Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City as a singer and guitarist for the East Tennessee Old Time Pride Band. She also opened solo for Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA.