Biography

Nashville artist Stacy Antonel makes clever, country-leaning Americana that feels both vintage and hyper-modern. Her “country jazz” vocals conjure the great singers of the 20s-30s, with the emotive power of country icon Patsy Cline. Rooted in classic country and laced with elements of jazz, pop, and R&B, Antonel’s narrative songs often feature unconventional themes. Antonel grew up near San Diego studying classical piano and cites an eclectic range of early musical inspiration: Tori Amos’s peculiar phrasing, Otis Redding’s rich melodic hooks. After winning televised singing contest “3 Minutes to Stardom”, Antonel quit her job to focus full-time on music. She began performing classic country covers as Ginger Cowgirl, and in 2017 moved to Nashville to record her self-titled debut EP, which was released in 2019. The album was praised by critics and led to tours in California, the Southeast, the UK, and Germany. Antonel’s debut full-length Always the Outsider drops June 2022 under her own name, an eclectic, otherworldly Americana collection of “outsider anthems” exploring concepts like alien romance and past lives as well as everyday emotions like isolation and disconnectedness. Produced by Ben Moore (Hot Snakes, Diamanda Galas, Burt Bacharach), the modern-retro country album features Antonel’s distinctively jazzy vocals alongside virtuosic instrumentation by Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams) on pedal steel, Joe Reed (Merle Haggard) on bass, and guitarist Paul Sgroi.