“When I’m singing, I’m searching,” says Addi McDaniel. “Every song, every performance is a search for answers, an exploration of what it means to be a whole person.”

 On her captivating solo debut, ‘After The News,’ McDaniel points her search inwards, channeling the pain of loss and regret into a transformative work of beauty and strength. Hailed as "a dynamo with a brass-plated voice" by the LA Times, McDaniel is both an extraordinary singer and a gifted interpreter of song, and ‘After The News’ finds her breathing vivid life into a raft of original songs from collaborator Tom Siering, whose material she deftly pairs with covers of tracks by Andrew Bird and Bruce Cockburn. Backed by an all-star cast of musicians including drummer/producer Marco Giovino (Robert Plant, Norah Jones), McDaniel blurs the lines between roots, blues, soul, and jazz on the album, inhabiting each track with the range and empathy of an actor taking on a role. Smoky and sincere, gentle in its insistence, her voice conveys a daring intimacy that feels tailor-made for Siering’s candidly honest reflections on sorrow and regret, hope and forgiveness, pain and transcendence.  

 “There’s an imprint that loss leaves on your spirit,” reflects McDaniel. “How you deal with it ends up becoming a part of your DNA. There’s a piece of you that doesn’t ever fully let it go, and so you’re always searching for ways to live with that pain and to still be present and human in the time you have. I immediately connected with Tom’s lyrics because he’s not afraid to explore that full range of darkness and light in his writing.”

 McDaniel grew up in a vibrantly musical household in St. Augustine, FL, where she enjoyed a childhood surrounded by instruments and an endless series of impromptu jam sessions. The oldest of four siblings, she was captivated by the songs of Rufus Wainwright, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen (“I’m drawn to any voice that conveys pathos, honesty and depth” she says) and fell in love with singing and writing her own poetry from an early age. After attending a performing arts high school and studying music and theater in college, McDaniel relocated to New York City to hone her craft. In 2012, she teamed up with virtuoso harpist Jacqueline Kerrod to form the genre-bending duo Addi & Jacq, which would go on to be crowned “Best Emerging Band in New York” by WNYC and perform everywhere from National Sawdust to the Apollo Theatre.