CT River & Roots Series: Jessye DeSilva

Jessye DeSilva seamlessly blends theatrical pop elements with traditional folk and roots music to form her piano-driven alt-americana sound. She infuses hope into songs about religious alienation, mental health struggles, and societal injustice to create a uniquely queer and unholy ruckus. Jessye’s forthcoming album Glitter Up the Dark was produced by Aaron Lee Tasjan and incorporates Eighties pop and Nineties alternative flourishes to the stately Americana and country-rock sounds of 2023’s Renovations and 2022 debut Landscapes, which earned her a nomination for Americana Artist of the Year at the 2022 Boston Music Awards. No Depression says “Comparisons to Elton John and Brandi Carlile are easy — DeSilva clearly takes a page from these idols, anchoring [her] songs in pop melody juggernauts, gauzy textures, and vocal bravado.” Nashville Scene named her a 2023 Artist To Watch, saying “DeSilva could inject new life into a genre that could definitely use a little more pretzel logic.”