Singer/songwriter Shannon LaBrie strikes a smooth balance between the grit of vintage soul, moody pop, and just enough country warmth to endear her to the Americana crowd. Based out of Nashville, she turned her youthful wanderings into a debut album that earned favorable comparisons ranging between Grace Potter and Norah Jones, then built on her sound with 2016's lusher War & Peace and a series of EPs and collaborations. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, LaBrie learned her first guitar chords from her father before he passed away when she was only 13. After a period of teenage rebellion and searching, she began to find her groove as a musician and songwriter, eventually ending up in Nashville. LaBrie's debut, Just Be Honest, came out in 2013 and revealed a confident mix of rock grit, pop melodicism, and classic soul influences that contained undercurrents of the country music world she bumped elbows with. Over the next few years, she fostered a prolific upswell of music, with a couple of EPs, singles, and a follow-up album, 2016's War & Peace, that showed a more mature and nuanced sound. A 2017 collaboration with Robert Randolph resulted in the latter recording LaBrie's song "She Got Soul" for his Grammy-nominated album Got Soul. Another collaboration, this time with Kenny Childers, yielded the EP Forevermore. She even ventured into the dance market, lending her vocals to the track "Head Down" by German electronic duo Boogie Pimps. Additional singles followed, as did a deal with Moraine Records for whom she recorded a holiday EP, Home from Anywhere, and the 2020 single "Firewalker." ~ Timothy Monger