Humanities Project: Chicago Songwriter Heather Styka Performs at CCC on Feb. 6

Humanities Project: Chicago Songwriter Heather Styka Performs at CCC on Feb. 6

Heather Styka.

Chicago songwriter Heather Styka will be performing on the Coffeyville Community College campus on Tuesday, February 6, as part of the CCC Humanities Project. The public is invited to the 10:30 a.m. Tuesday humanities performances at CCC.  The performances are free and held in the Spencer/Rounds Performing Arts Theatre.

Styka is not afraid to go where others fear to tread — and to get a little messy on the way. Beneath “sweet, soulful vocals” (Portland Press Herald) and “nimble fingerpicked guitar” (Dispatch Magazine) lie narratives of vulnerability, strength, and wanderlust, drawn from her extensive touring. These are the sort of songs that take you on a journey and haunt you all the way home.

Styka started writing and performing as a teenager, honing her craft among Chicago’s folk community. At the age of 28, Styka has performed for over a decade, released four full-length albums, and toured from coast to coast. She was a two-time New Folk Finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival (2015, 2017), and has performed at the Folk Alliance International and FARM conferences as an official showcase artist. 

Styka’s 2011 release Lifeboats for Atlantis hit #3 on the FOLK-DJ charts. After moving to Maine for two years, Styka released While This Planet Spins Beneath Our Feet (2014), which charted for four months on FOLK-DJ. Styka’s latest release The Bittersweet Tapes (2016) was recorded in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on a four track recorder with sparse, ethereal production. “In this raw and intimate portrait of life, disguised as a collection of songs, Heather Styka has truly created a masterpiece” (Chris Darby, Independent Melody).

This young troubadour is currently finishing her upcoming record, North, which features The Sentimentals, a band from Denmark that has backed up songwriters including Jonathan Byrd, Corin Raymond, Anna Egge, and Slaid Cleaves. Heather and the Sentimentals recorded the album live in a cabin in northern Wisconsin.

As a touring songwriter, Styka has an understanding and appreciation of long roads and far away places. As a child, she looked forward to the family road-trip all year long. But you don’t have to be a vagabond to love songs about travel — from Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” to Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of “Lady is a Tramp,” songs about far-away lands and wanderers appeal to all walks of life. These songs and stories tell us about life on the road, but many of them also show us the meaning of home.

From country to popular music, some of America’s most loved popular songs were inspired by the age of the automobile, celebrating the open road in tunes like “Route 66” and “On the Road Again.” Other songs from this era sing of adventures by plane, train, or boat. This program focuses mostly on tunes written from the 20’s to the 50s, plus a few folk revival classics like Peter, Paul and Mary’s version of “500 Miles” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “America.” With sing-along favorites like “Waltz Across Texas” and “Over the Rainbow” and story songs like “I’ve Been Everywhere" and “City of New Orleans,” Heather takes listeners across the country — and across the world — without leaving their seats.

For more information about the humanities project at CCC, please call 620-251-7700, ext. 2166.