NOW LISTENING: LEYLA McCALLA

This New Yorker- yup I said New Yorker, although you may not guess it from listening to her Bayou- Creole style blues. The Creole part makes  sense as she was born of Haitian parents, but raised in New Jersey.  She picked up the cello in 4th grade- and bless her for sticking to it. She has now moved beyond the cello making original, beautiful and sometimes political music with other instruments including her own vocals.

Her music feels like a soundtrack to a very specific getaway, a warm summer driving in Cuba or on some island. Her voice is husky and sultry and it’s such a welcome escape from today’s top 40 radio. And this isn’t just easy listening, you should really pay attention to her lyrics. See below:

From the Capitalist Blues:
You keep telling me
To climb this ladder
I’ve got to pay my dues
But as I rise
The stakes get higher
I’ve got the capitalist blues
And if I give everything
I won’t have much more to lose
I am swimming in an ocean of sharks

My new fave is”Money is King”- a protest song of sorts- speaking up against so much of what we see today, an unfair, unbalanced world and how much regard and deference we place on wealth. Watch and listen below.