Roki Kilroy at Longstaff House

Røki Kilroy

Carrying the listener on a roving, soulful journey, Røki Kilroy’s Americana songs paint a connection to the natural world, the magic and fickle, triumph and struggle. The influence of her Western, Arctic and Irish roots, lead way to a unique sound where the wild vastness of the American west, frozen solitude of Arctic fjords, and moody mist of Celtic sea shades meet in balance through ethereal vocals, eerie cadences, intricate fingerstyle guitar and warm bass tones.

Chosen as #1 Best New Band in America, the Boston Phoenix describes the Montana artist’s sound as “having the softness of Alison Krauss’s Americana roots folk with the deep bass and drums of Depeche Mode and the brooding emotion of a Bach Fugue, creating something awesome that ‘electroacoustic’ simply can’t define.” Bluesman, Guy Davis describes her sound as “beautiful and pure, it takes me somewhere deep and way back”. Røki’s sound has been compared to Joni Mitchell, EmmyLou Harris, Mazzy Star, Bat For Lashes and others.

A long time rock climber and field recordist, Røki incorporates field recordings of natural sounds into her live performances and film score compositions, the most recent recordings captured while climbing El Capitan in Yosemite. Kilroy’s experimentation with sound has lead her to work on various award winning films. Through such work, she hopes to spark people’s love for these wild places.

Hailing from North Western Montana, Kilroy’s modest upbringing sparked her love for music at a young age. Growing up in a cabin without electricity in Kootenai forest, it was easy to get lost in the sounds of wildlife and songwriting, escaping the hardships of poverty through music and connection with her small community. Working ranches, fire crews, mountain guiding and playing hootenannies, Kilroy embraced life on the road and made ends meet while living out of a beat up 1989 Toyota Celica.

Kilroy’s talent was noticed by Grammy Award winner, Skip Ewing who referred to her as “a 21st Century EmmyLou Harris”. After watching her perform at a Wyoming hootenanny, the country hit writer invited her to perform at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville with Pat Flynn and Viktor Krauss. Encouraged by Flynn, Røki began competing in songwriting competitions where she earned awards in the bluegrass and western genres. Between odd jobs and fire seasons, she couch surfed through Music Row, co-writing with a host of Nashville’s best for artists in the country western world.

Weary of the limits imposed while writing for others, Kilroy headed back to Montana, started an experimental folk project (Pterodactyl Plains) and began creating songs for the simple sake of creating music with unhindered expression.

With a tour history of 30+ countries, Røki has performed solo and with talents such as Califone, Allison Russell, Charlie Parr, Bill Callahan, Elephant Revival, Guy Davis, Lukas Nelson, Izaak Opatz, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Devil Makes Three, Infamous Stringdusters, Ben Bullington, Darrell Scott, String Cheese Incident, Greensky Bluegrass, Railroad Earth, Trampled By Turtles and others. Roki has shared the stage with greats such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Kostas, Little Feat, John Prine, EmmyLou Harris, Robert Earl Keen, Bill Kreutzmann, Del McCoury, Darol Angor, Sam Bush, Don McLean, Richie Havens, Doc Watson and others.

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