The energy at the Exit/In was magical as the crowd filed in on March 29 for Sisters in Song, a concert presented by River & Row Management. As the pre-show playlist cycled through songs by Carole King, Fleetwood Mac, Brandi Carlile, and other artists in the Americana realm, attendees got progressively more excited. Eloise Rixey performing, photo by Maggie Oradat. Eloise Rixey was the first artist onstage, joined by cellist Ethan Hill and special guest Jael Woolfolk on keyboar

Published at belmontvision.com on April 1, 2026. Two freshmen in Belmont’s Curb College announced in late 2025 that they’re starting River & Row Management, an independent female-run management company. Students Emma Harger and Annie McNamara announced this in late 2025. “We want to be the first in the line of fire when it comes to safety, especially in live music. There are so many instances where you are taken advantage of, your intelligence is watered down,” Harger said.

Rocky LeRoe, photo by Lara Blizzard. A desire and drive to build community among listeners isn’t unusual among artists, but it’s rare that their image and life experience align toward this desire as well as Rocky LeRoe’s do. She describes her music as “trying to keep the spirit of the 70s alive in a country city in an indie world” while performing “rock music with full band instruments”, suggesting inspiration from the groupie era of this time period. I first heard Rocky’s mu

The Ace album cover, photo by Sean Stout. Madison Cunningham’s fourth studio album, Ace, signals many changes in Cunningham’s musical style. She shifts into the piano realm after years of focusing on her guitar work, and has the ultimate processing experience following a massive period of suffering intense loss and self-discovery. As I talk to Cunningham on the phone while she drives through California a week ahead of the opening night of the second US leg of her Ace Tour,

Published at belmontvision.com on March 26, 2026. Madison Cunningham, photo by Sean Stout Madison Cunningham’s fourth studio album, “Ace , ” signals many changes in Cunningham’s musical style. Cunningham is known for her work with Lucy Dacus, Jacob Collier, Remi Wolf, and even opening for Harry Styles and John Mayer. Mayer even called her a “monster guitar player” in a “standalone appreciation post of @madicunningham” following the end of their shows together. Her second

The Sisters in Song poster, designed by Annie McNamara On Sunday, March 29, Sisters in Song, presented by River & Row Management, will be taking over the Exit/In. All performers are Belmont University students and alum, and I had the honor of talking to them. Here’s what to expect when you show up this weekend! First and foremost, a unifying sense of community. You’re never going to be bored; all the girls complement each other in terms of music, personality, and of course, h

This has been a crazy season. I’ve committed to this blog (and journalism in general) big-time and have so many pieces I’m pushing out. Even with so much going on, one of the types of articles I do that I try not to take for granted is my seasonal roundup of music recommendations by women. Admittedly, this winter was a little dry. Winters tend to be. Artists are wrapping up their projects and starting new ones as the new year begins. They’re not often rolling out an album i

When I approach Eloise Rixey at a Nashville coffee shop on an early March morning, the first thing I observe about the singer/songwriter is that she looks straight out of an indie-downtown-girl-cottagecore Pinterest board. This impression of her is quickly supported by the revelation that she’s a music business major with a legal studies emphasis and a philosophy minor. “I'm from St Augustine, Florida…. it's got one of the best music scenes, I would argue, in the world,” she

When Americana singer/songwriter Monica James picked up the phone on a spring break afternoon, the first question I asked her was not the typical “How are you?” but rather, “Where are you?” I could hear a soft, incessant noise in the background. As it turned out, she was on a Florida beach. “I figured if I’m going to be on the phone, I might as well be on the beach,” she laughed. This is Monica for you. Her primary goal as an artist, beyond wanting to make people feel seen by

Published at belmontvision.com on March 9, 2026. ALINA performing "Get A Grip." (Louise Geri) The crowd at the Exit/In was abuzz on Sunday night, as 150 people waited for Tripp Todd, Meadowglade and ALINA to come onstage. Two months after the release of ALINA’s sophomore EP, “Catching Lightning,” the singer and former Belmont student headlined the popular venue. Between original songs, opener Tripp Todd performed covers of “Wrist Watch” by MJ Lenderman and a rock-inspired ve

Alina for the catching lightning photoshoot, photo by Lucy Bates. Nearly a year after leaving Belmont University and signing a record deal with Columbia Records, Alina announced her first-ever official Nashville show at the Exit/In, promoting her latest EP, catching lightning. A couple hours prior to the show, I had the chance to chat with her over the phone. Right off the bat, I felt like I’d known the singer for years. Last year, I developed a deep attachment to her song “I

This autumn was one of my strangest ones yet. For the first time, I entered a season without a single person I’d known for more than two months, in a city that was completely new to me. It was a total clean slate, and the soundtrack music was bound to become formative. Here are the women who defined my first autumn as an adult! To pick up right where we left off on my summer music recap, Sabrina Carpenter was hands down the biggest artist on my mind. I won’t

I have been cooking a post like this up for years and I have finally gotten it out! Everyone cheer. I think it's Elle magazine that does these. In 2019, Taylor Swift put out a piece called "30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30", and I've been making similar lists for every birthday since I turned sixteen. What really got me to do it was Lily Kincade, an artist I interviewed a couple months ago for this blog. While deep in conversation about journaling, I mentioned wanting t

Since starting at Belmont University in August, I’ve kept my eyes peeled for ways women’s voices are being lifted. In December, my friends Emma Harger and Annie McNamara started River & Row Management, an independent DIY-management company run by women. Both Harger and McNamara are extremely driven. Harger has experience managing live music through working with community-oriented nonprofit music groups like Wisconsin’s Stevens Point City Band. McNamara, who, like me, has shif

What a time to be experiencing the Grammys this year! Last year, I watched with my mom in our living room while my sister hated on every artist as I actively defended them. This year, I’ll be watching from a dorm room in Nashville with a couple friends who share my music taste at a (mainly) music school. Here are the women (as a reminder, women are the focus of my blog) that I think will win each of the big four categories at the Grammys this year. Album of the Year Bad Bunny

One of the most interesting musical developments I’ve made over the last few months has been exploration of the bluegrass subgenre of country. A good friend of mine, Lilly Martin, is a bluegrass fiddler, and has opened my eyes to what I’ve found to be a satisfyingly formulaic type of music. While flying from my hometown back to Nashville after winter break, I listened to Sierra Hull’s latest album, A Tip Toe High Wire. Here are my thoughts! The album cover for A Tip Toe High

Running a blog oriented around women in music, I face an annual dilemma of how to contextualize my ranking of my top five albums of the year. If you recall, I labelled this circle “Relatives of Taylor Swift” last year. But this year’s ranking had a major unexpected caveat: there’s a brand-new Taylor Swift album that I had no desire to include – surprising because her last three albums all topped my rankings for their respective years. But with this in mind, the biggest common

When Lily Kincade, a glamorous LA-based pop artist, approached me outside of a Nashville coffee shop on an early November evening, I had a gut feeling that the talented woman I was about to speak to was going to give me more than just background on her work. As Kincade and I sat down, I got a good look at her outfit. Kincade’s staple look is many a girls’ dream. It’s her reality both online and in-person. Her hair is dyed flaming red. She has perfectly styled fringe bangs, d

That time of year has finally come! On December 3, I woke up to the joyous news that Spotify Wrapped was out. I listened to 43,317 minutes of music this year, and here’s who took up the most of those minutes. The Speak Now (Taylor's Version) album cover My top artists This never comes as a shock – I have the same top artist every year: Taylor Swift. I spent 10,622 minutes – about a week, total – listening to her music. Like most years, I was in the top 0.05% of her listeners

Last Sunday, my low Belmont finals week spirits were revived when I opened Instagram and saw fellow Curb College student Lilly Martin doing a double-stopped slide on the A and E-strings in a “trap grass” fiddle lick and proceeding to do a complex improvised fiddle solo. I commented, “This scratched an itch in my brain” and opened my phone several hours later to hundreds of likes on the comment. The video was blowing up. One week later, 1.1 million likes and nearly 6 million