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Intro Song: Jasmine Air, Noan Partly
Amidst Beyonce’s genre-defying release of her new album last month, there’s a local Tampa folk artist also mixing genres and breaking expected norms.
Oklahoma-raised, Florida-based musician Noan Partly doesn’t like to put her music in a box.
“People want to name things to feel like they understand it, and that kind of just causes more division.”
The singer and instrumentalist studied jazz in college. But she learned everything she knew about folk while living in the upper Midwest.
“I spent a lot of that time living in my car, and busking, and I met a lot of fellow travelers during that time. I just gained so much inspiration during that period of my life.”
Her music now has Americana, folk, and indie influences with a modern twist.
“Even though I am black, I wouldn’t say that my music is RnB music. Or, just because I play a banjo, doesn’t mean that this is going to be a country song. I don’t know – music is, it reaches so much further than the lines, than the categories. So, I just try not to even think about that at all.”
What Noan Partly would rather think about are the tough, existential questions that she wants to ask in her lyrics. She says she feels a visceral presence when she performs, no matter if it’s a country or pop venue.
“To show up to a gig with no other expectations than to play your music and enjoy what you’re doing. I think that will just take you everywhere that you need to go.”
She plans to release her first album by the end of this summer.
