Calista Garcia

Delivering flairs of Latin, blues, roots and pop, tied together with introspective lyricism, 22-year-old folk rock singer/songwriter Calista Garcia is gearing up to release her sonically diverse eight-track album, Confession, in May 2023.

Calista’s latest single “The Way I Love You” (released February 3, 2023) is an unflinching, bittersweet eulogy to unrequited love, the third installment from her upcoming album. This single follows the release of the zestful, piano-driven sophomore single — “Kalamazoo” (released December 2, 2022) — which exhibits her distinctive, expressive style and musical ingenuity. The LP’s lead single, “The Coals,” which gained support from Spotify’s official “Fresh Finds Folk: Best of 2022” playlist, along with praise from Americana Highways.

Recorded at Plyrz Studios and produced by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Jim Scott (the Chicks, Tom Petty) in collaboration with Calista and GRAMMY Award-winning producer, Davíd Garza (Fiona Apple) showcases a “new classic” style — with a fresh, modern twist that hearkens back to the ‘70s era — drawing inspiration from legends such as Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell.

Confession follows Calista’s previously released EP’s, A Beautiful World (released October 2021) and Wild Woman (released April 2019), which garnered a nomination for “Best Roots/Country EP” in the 2020 Independent Music Awards. The project also won multiple nominations and awards from International Acoustic Music Awards (IAMA), the International Songwriting Competition (ISC) and the Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest (MASC).

As seen on Season 16 of NBC’s The Voice, Calista is a prolific songwriter who plays guitar, piano, ukulele, bass, mandolin and harmonica. She is a 2022 Kerrville New Folk Winner, the 2022 Songwriter’s Association of Washington Young Artist of the Year, 2022 winner of 2 DC Area “Wammies” music awards (Best Folk song & artist), a 2021 Chris Austin Songwriting Finalist at Merlefest, a 2021 “She is the Music Foundation” Connect TogetHER Songwriting Fellow, the 2020 National YoungArts Gold Winner in Voice/Singer-Songwriter (top prize), a 2020 Johnny Mercer Songwriting Project Fellow, a 2019 Strathmore Artist in Residence, a 2017 & 2018 Berklee Performance Showcase Winner, the 2017 Bernard Ebbs Young Songwriter of the Year and a two-time Grammy Foundation Young Songwriter Program Artist.

A member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild, Calista also writes for the stage, having completed her second folk-rock inspired musical, Crystal Skies, which premiered in April 2018. Crystal Skies was a 2020 semifinalist for the Eugene O’Neill Musical Theatre Conference. Calista splits her time between New York City and Washington DC. She is on Takamine’s worldwide roster of Takamine guitar artists.