Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light (Sat)
Emerging Artists
2024 Lineup | Past Years: 2023 Lineup | 2022 Lineup | 2019 Lineup
Boston-based singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Rachel Sumner left her former band Twisted Pine in 2021 to pursue her own sound. She found it with Traveling Light, a versatile string band that blends folk, bluegrass, and Americana. Along with Mike Siegel on upright bass and Kat Wallace on fiddle and harmonies, Sumner delivers heartfelt songs that showcase her wistful vocals and stellar musicianship. The group’s self-titled debut album features six originals and three covers that range from serene to upbeat. NPR calls her “one of the brightest voices in Boston’s roots music scene,” and we can see why. We’re proud to present them as Emerging Artists this year.
Though Sumner has roots in both the bluegrass and classical worlds, this is true-blue singer-songwriter folk through and through, too: achingly clear, and wide open to the world, with twang and tenderness enough to carry us through the fire of an unusually difficult year on its own.