Episode 2: Jamila Silvera

Click here to listen to Jamila’s episode

Jamila Silvera is a singer/songwriter and visual artist from the DC area. Music is her strongest form of communication, her greatest source of joy, and earnest meditation. It is a powerful notion that music is the most efficient way to convey a message without asking permission.

Jamila’s simple goal is to share, shine, and swap stories in song.  Though a part of her will always be an educator, she’s proud to have redirected her life to more fully pursue music.

Under the guidance of her long-time friends and musicians, Garage Voice, Jamila’s self-titled EP was released in the fall of 2013. Making music has allowed her to build unexpected connections and cherished relationships. The release of her last project was made possible through treasured and long-time friendships with producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, Keith Tutt, II and producer, Grammy Nominated composer and vocalist, Armand Hutton of Hutton Records and Naturally 7.

Last Jamila released her cover of The Cranberries’,  "Dreams" on January 2, 2018. Her freshest release, Ona, was released in October 2018 and pays homage to the mighty matriarchs of her family.

Episode 1: Ben Grace

At the center of Australian singer-songwriter Ben Grace’s impeccably crafted songs is a story of undoing. Drawn by the roots-driven tradition of Americana to sing the stories that need to be told, Ben’s music hovers in the space between lightness and the depths, wrestling its way through humor and melody to peel back the layers and reveal the naked truth of us. Through the specificity of his own deconstruction, Ben writes into our universal search for belonging, spiritual homecoming, and desire to live seen and unashamed.
Born and raised in an inner city suburb of Sydney, Ben’s exodus from the beliefs and structures of his working class Christian childhood weaves poignantly through his lyrics, revealing itself in his deep commitment to justice and willingness to call forward the darker themes in American politics. With the lens of an outsider and the bold voice of a witness, Ben writes to challenge and disrupt our comfort with the status quo. Songs like “Mama” and “An Eye for an Eye” take on the realities of systemic racism while holding space for collective mourning, and his latest single, “Preacher’s Daughter,” confronts the silencing of patriarchal religious culture through the artfully captured memory of one woman’s intercepted words.

His solo work is the culmination of a 25 year trajectory through the industry that includes the release of over 50 songs and collaborations, each a twist in the gradual unraveling that would lead him to produce under his own name. In the past two years, Ben has joined fellow artists to tour across 20 states and through Europe, playing everything from house shows to historic venues, singing into the truth of our stories and holding them up to the light.