Stephie James overturns Nashville’s hat and boot culture with her own Iggy Pop-meets-Judy Garland panache. Born and raised in Detroit, she borrows a storytelling songwriting tradition, but fuses it with 60’s girl group sounds, echoing The Shirelles and The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman.” Her sound is subtly subversive—at one turn familiar and nostalgic, while simultaneously evoking the dawn of something new. Now based in Nashville with a rock n roll backing band, Stephie brings her debut album, As Night Fades, on the road.

James has been a steadfast musical powerhouse since her teens. She’s toured with Anita Baker and Nikki Lane, worked production for Buddy Miller and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, has written with John Bettis (songwriter for Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, The Carpenters and more) and even shared the stage with Michael Bolton. For her debut album, As Night Fades, she teamed up with producer Andrija Tokic, who also produced the platinum, Grammy-nominated Alabama Shakes’ album Boys & Girls. John Baldwin (The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Nancy Sinatra, The White Stripes) mastered the album.

Through music, Stephie James takes us on a cinematic tour through her world of late night soirees, loves lost and loves found, all the while unafraid to embrace the uncertainty of the world. Her lyrics are charming, tender, vulnerable and incredibly vivid. It feels like black and white, 35mm celluloid, shot by Jim Jarmusch and dreamt by David Lynch.