Amythyst Kiah on Mountain Stage

Fresh off of her debut album, Wary + Strange, Amythyst Kiah, stopped by the Mountain Stage in 2021 to perform for a limited capacity audience in Charleston, W. Va.

"Our next performer is having a breakthrough moment ... she was just nominated for two Americana awards, for Emerging Artist and Song of the Year," host Kathy Mattea says. "She stands with one foot in the alt-rock world and one foot in the roots and old-time world, and friends, that is not an easy thing to do."

With a voice that can roar and then drip like honey, and a masterful guitar technique that covers fingerpicking to wild strumming, Kiah shared a trio of songs about the shape she was in due to alcohol's impact on her life.

Kiah closed the set with her anthemic "Black Myself," which put the world on notice back in 2019 when she sang her song with supergroup Our Native Daughters, earning a Grammy nomination and the Folk Alliance International's Song of the Year. Kiah told the Mountain Stage audience she re-recorded it for Wary + Strange, her new album, to keep the conversation going around systemic racism and white supremacy.

"It is in different forms, but it is still present and we all have the power to continue to learn from one another and to understand each other and to continue to push for equality for all people."

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