Cami Voss — West Seattle, WA

Cami Voss is a retro-country singer, pianist, bandleader, and songwriter whose roots run deep in the classic American country tradition — Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris, Bob Wills, and Lefty Frizzell are the touchstones. She fronts multiple active projects including Cami Voss & the Acme Roundup, Fricken Chickasee, and The Loose Heels, and has curated celebrated tribute productions honoring Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette at venues including the Triple Door and Tractor Tavern. Her performances have drawn reviews praising their authenticity, charm, and deep respect for the source material.

Beyond the stage, Voss is a cornerstone of the West Seattle music community — founder of West Side Music Academy (est. 1999), board member at Kenyon Hall, and music teacher at Tilden School. She brings a warm, genuine presence to every room she plays, from wineries and art walks to full band productions with a crackerjack rhythm section and twin guitars. That combination of deep roots, live versatility, and community investment is exactly what Gigs4U is built to celebrate.

Weekly Volcano Caught Polybanderous Looping at a Farmers Market

A writer for Weekly Volcano found me doing my usual thing at the Tacoma Farmers Market: guitar, loop pedal, and my on the spot solos. She signed up for my email list before introducing herself, which lead to an interview request.

The resulting piece covers the saxophone-in-a-London-tunnel origin story, the singing gondolier chapter (yes, that's real), and how a Navy brat ends up running a patchwork production company with a name nobody can pronounce.

She was kind enough to call the live looping "transformative." I'll take it. Read the full feature and decide for yourself.

G.Y.S.S.

Hans Pucket

Wellington indie-rock four-piece Hans Pucket return with their first new material since the Taite Prize-nominated No Drama (2022). G.Y.S.S. is described as "a pop-rock anthem written out of post-lockdown desperation," and it lands like one: nervy, hook-laden, and effortlessly danceable. The band recently opened for Split Enz on their reunion tour across Aotearoa, and this track suggests the next record is going to be worth the wait.

Michael Compton — Seattle, WA

Michael Compton has been making records in Seattle since before most of the city's current generation of musicians started playing. Twenty independent releases on his own label missingrecords, including the 2022 full-length Wooden Spoon — a bedroom-to-studio collaboration with legendary PNW producer Steve Fisk (Nirvana, Car Seat Headrest), bassist Yuuki Matthews (The Shins), and drummer Michael Musburger (The Posies) — that stands as some of the most confident indie rock to come out of this city in years. He performs as a solo artist and with his band Good Evening, and has also served as head of the Pacific Northwest Recording Chapter for the Grammys.

Compton's live presence reflects the depth of someone who has built a career on passion over profile. His songs carry the hallmark of Seattle's underground pop spirit — open-hearted, groove-oriented, and driven by a deep love for the craft. Whether solo or with a full band, he brings a commitment to the room that audiences feel immediately. That kind of long-game authenticity is exactly what Gigs4U looks for.

Bonita Fishwife

Bonita Fishwife is throwing a release party for their new album at the Belltown Yacht Club on Saturday, August 1. Accendino and Sweet Marilyn open the night. Come hear the new record the way it was meant to be heard, loud and in a room full of people.

Belltown Yacht Club, Seattle
Saturday, August 1, 2026
Advance $15 ($18.85 w/ fees) · Day of $17 ($21.37 w/ fees)

"Hallelujah" is one of the new singles from Burden of Excess, the album I just released and have been selling at live shows around Seattle. I ran it through SubmitHub to see who outside the Pacific Northwest might bite. Two curators said yes, and they were not the ones I expected.

The two that landed

EXTRAVAFRENCH, a French rock blog, wrote a full review and added the track to their EXTRAVAROCK Spotify playlist. They framed the song as a psychedelic trance where faith, doubt, and electric vertigo end up singing in the same language, and described light arriving not from the sky but through an effects pedal. My favorite line, loosely translated, is that the song manages to "make vertigo resemble grace." I will take it.

Over in Mexico, Expansión Radial shared it as a blog review and across Instagram, TikTok, and their other channels. Two placements, two countries, neither of them down the street from me.

The honest numbers

I used Easy Mode under Promote A Song. Twelve curators heard the track. Two approved it. That works out to roughly a 17 percent acceptance rate, which sits under SubmitHub's 28 percent site average for the month. I spent 34 premium credits getting there. Not a blowout by any measure.

What Easy Mode did do was save me a serious amount of time. It summarized each response as I burned down the spend, so I was not babysitting submissions one at a time. For a busy run, that alone earned its keep, even though the campaign was not hugely successful on paper.

The rejections were the useful part

Here is the thing nobody tells you about a middling SubmitHub run: the no's were remarkably consistent, and consistency is signal. Several curators praised the instrumentation and called the production professional, then said the vocal or the hook did not fully land for them, or that they wanted something punchier and heavier. One heard glam-rock and confident vocals but wanted more punch from the production. Another caught a raw grunge and goth crossover and figured it would hit hard live. (That curator literally bet it would go down well in a room, which, given that I have been moving this album at shows, tracks.)

When ten strangers across six countries circle the same couple of notes, that is not rejection. That is a free production memo I did not have to ask for.

What I would tell another independent artist

• Run the math before you feel anything. 2 of 12 sounds rough until you remember that two of them were real placements in two different countries.
• Easy Mode is worth it for the time savings alone. It still costs credits and guarantees nothing, but it kept a wide campaign from eating my week.
• A thoughtful no can be worth the credit. Several curators wrote full paragraphs about exactly what was and was not working.
• Match the genre carefully. The psych-rock and metal curators clearly heard very different songs, and that mismatch shows up in the feedback.
• International curators are absolutely reachable. Both of my yeses came from outside the US blogs entirely.

Big thanks to SubmitHub for the platform and for Easy Mode, to EXTRAVAFRENCH and Expansión Radial for the coverage, and to every curator who took the time to write real notes.

If you want to hear the track this is based on, "Hallelujah" and the rest of Burden of Excess are streaming now, and I am selling the album at live shows around Seattle.

Acoustic Electronica

The Court at Versailles

What would happen if a jazz trio reimagined the seminal works of electronic dance music? That's the premise of Acoustic Electronica, and The Court at Versailles pull it off without a hint of novelty-act energy. Tracks like Rez / Cowgirl and Strobe, Part 1 & 2 treat the source material as real compositional territory, not a parlor trick.

Tracklist

Bad Honey, Güero Brown & OK Tiger

Belltown Yacht Club · Seattle, WA

Three of Seattle's own share a stage at one of the city's best basement venues. Blues-drenched hard rock, alt-rock influenced by Bowie and Tom Petty, and cinematic indie folk-pop, all under one roof for a Saturday night worth showing up for.

Kristin Chambers — Seattle, WA

Kristin Chambers is one of the few piano-based singer-songwriters anchoring the Seattle scene, and her resume is hard to argue with. Classically trained, Broadway-adjacent, and prolific beyond most — she has over 200 songwriting credits and has released four full-length albums plus two EPs, most recently a curated compilation called Select Songs Vol. 1. Her song "Everything Woman" appeared on Better Call Saul in 2022; other placements have landed on CBS, Netflix, Lifetime, Hallmark, and The Young and the Restless.

Chambers performs with a warmth and directness that carries across genres. Jazz, pop, folk, adult contemporary — she moves between them naturally, always led by melody and an instinct for the emotional core of a lyric. Her ability to write with honesty and accessibility, and to deliver those songs live with genuine conviction, makes her exactly the kind of artist Gigs4U exists to connect with audiences.

Byland, Zander Hawley & Abby Gundersen

The Rabbit Box Theatre · Seattle, WA

Byland is the project of Seattle-based singer-songwriter Alie Renee, whose cinematic indie-rock sound has earned recognition from KEXP, American Songwriter, and Under The Radar. Her latest record Heavy For A While was produced by Nathan Yaccino and mixed by Brandon Bell, the team behind records from Brandi Carlile and Norah Jones. Joining her is LA-based songwriter Zander Hawley, whose touring credits include The Naked and Famous and Noah Gundersen, with music placed on Netflix and Fox. Abby Gundersen, a contributor to Byland's record, rounds out an intimate evening at one of Seattle's most personal performance spaces.

Sarah Brunner — Seattle, WA

Sarah Brunner is a full-time Americana singer-songwriter who came up busking through European hostels, playing 1,000-plus live shows, and eventually landing in Seattle where she has made herself a fixture of the Pacific Northwest music community. Her debut single "Caravan" led to the formation of touring duo The Hipocrats alongside Tyler McGinnis, whose album Friend Ship Joyride — produced by Grammy Award-winner Chance McCoy — surpassed 60,000 Spotify streams and earned comparisons to the Civil Wars and Simon & Garfunkel. Her sound blends Brandi Carlile's emotive intensity with The Lumineers' warm acoustic drive.

Brunner's live sets are centered on rhythm guitar and voice, and she has an instinct for setting the right mood in any room — from intimate songwriter rounds to festival stages. Her 90-show national Road to Joy Tour in 2022 included Nashville's Saxon Pub and an opening slot for Grammy-nominated Will Hoge at Tractor Tavern in Seattle. With a solo EP on the way in 2026, she brings exactly the kind of committed, road-tested presence that Gigs4U is built to spotlight.

Orville Johnson — Seattle, WA

Orville Johnson grew up in a small Illinois farming town not far from the Mississippi River and has spent decades becoming one of the most versatile and in-demand roots musicians in the Pacific Northwest. A master of dobro, lap steel, guitar, mandolin, and banjo, he has appeared on well over 500 recordings — CDs, film soundtracks, commercials, and game audio — and produced more than 30 albums for other artists. His credentials include the Prairie Home Companion radio show, Jay Leno's Tonight Show, and film credits on Georgia and Georgia Rule.

As a live performer, Johnson brings a deep, easy authority to every stage he touches. His roots run through blues, bluegrass, rockabilly, New Orleans jazz, and American folk, and he moves between all of them as naturally as breathing. Whether fronting his own band or sitting in as a sideman, his playing is expressive, unhurried, and completely self-assured — the kind of musicianship that makes every room feel like the right room. That depth of craft and genuine presence is exactly what Gigs4U is looking for.

Scott Concinnity — Seattle, WA

Scott Concinnity is the frontman and driving force behind Letters From Traffic, a seven-piece Seattle rock and soul outfit he has been building since 2006. The band layers trumpet, trombone, saxophone, vocal harmonies, guitars, bass, and drums into what they call New Vintage Soul — a sound that draws on Van Morrison, Al Green, and Blood Sweat & Tears while staying firmly rooted in original songwriting. Their 2013 full-length Icarus Iterations earned a NW Music Experience Awards nomination for Blues Song of the Year and drew performances at venues including the Showbox, Triple Door, the Crocodile, and the King Cat Theatre.

As a performer, Concinnity brings a philosophical intensity to the stage that sets Letters From Traffic apart from your average horn band. The mission, as he has described it, is to awaken people to the radical opportunity of being alive — and the band delivers on that every night through kick-ass grooves, life-shaking lyrics, and the kind of full-room energy that only a seven-piece can generate. That commitment to meaning and movement is exactly what Gigs4U is built around.

Lyle Ronglien — Mill Creek, WA

Lyle Ronglien has been playing guitar since age 10 and, by any measure, has never slowed down. Based in the Pacific Northwest, he moves fluidly between classical, bluegrass, rock, and country — both as a solo performer and as the frontman of several working groups, including the three-piece country rock outfit Highway 9, a Cars tribute band, a One-Hit Wonders tribute project, and a 17-piece swing band tribute to the Brian Setzer Orchestra where he steps into the role of Setzer himself. He also records as one half of Americana duo Hangtown Marshals.

Ronglien's live shows are high-energy and crowd-focused, shaped by decades of performing for audiences who want to have a good time. His latest original album, How Many Miles, released in fall 2024 and gives his solo sets a fresh core to build from. Whether playing an intimate venue or a full tribute production, he brings the same enthusiasm and commitment to the room — which is exactly the spirit Gigs4U is built on.

Judd Wasserman — Seattle, WA

Judd Wasserman writes songs that sit quietly in the tradition of Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Jim Croce, and Cat Stevens — intimate, well-crafted, and built to last. What sets him apart from a traditional solo acoustic act is his use of live looping: he layers tracks in real time to build a richer, more layered sonic landscape than most one-person shows can deliver. The result is something that feels like a full band even when it's just Judd on stage. He has self-released several albums and studied composition and performance at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

Wasserman performs regularly across the Pacific Northwest and has opened for international acts at venues including Seattle's Neptune Theater and Portland's Aladdin Theater. His sets have a lived-in quality — the kind of show where you settle in quickly and don't want it to end. That combination of careful songwriting and genuinely engaging live performance makes him a natural fit for the Gigs4U community.

From fried chicken and greens to peach cobbler and sweet potato pie, this is food as family history. Whether you're in it for the recipes, the stories, or both, this one's worth pulling up a chair for. Grab a copy on Amazon and show some love to one of our own.

Sean Gaskell — Tacoma, WA

Sean Gaskell plays the kora, a 21-string West African harp at the center of an 800-year-old musical tradition carried by oral historians known as Griots. He studied directly under master players Moriba Kuyateh and the late Malamini Jobarteh in Brikama, Gambia, over three visits spanning 2008 to 2018, and later traveled to Senegal to study with Youssoupha Cissokho and his son Mamadou in Saly. Gaskell approaches this tradition with the seriousness and dedication it deserves, and the music reflects it.

Based in Tacoma, WA, Gaskell has presented adult, youth, and family programs at over 400 libraries and dozens of schools, colleges, and universities across the United States and Canada. His performances are as much about context as they are about sound — each one opens a window into a living musical heritage that most audiences rarely encounter. That commitment to meaningful live experience is precisely what Gigs4U is looking for.

Emmanuel del Casal has spent over 30 years developing one of the most well-rounded careers in Seattle music. As a bassist, his original project Bass & Beats explores the deep-pocket funk grooves and jazz-soul fusion he has loved since the beginning, while his broader professional profile spans private events, corporate engagements, and collaborative work across a wide spectrum of genres. He is perhaps best known for leading Jazz in the Georgian at Seattle's Olympic Hotel — a Friday and Saturday night residency that ran for 13 consecutive years and closed with a New Year's Eve performance on December 31, 2015. Del Casal's approach to live performance reflects decades of experience reading a room and delivering exactly what it needs. Whether anchoring a groove-heavy funk set or providing the backbone for a sophisticated private event, his musicianship is understated, confident, and deeply felt. That combination of versatility and artistry puts him squarely within the spirit of Gigs4U.

“Looking For”

The debut single from Bonita Fishwife — formerly known as Drea & the Marilyns — arrives as something earned rather than announced. “Looking For” is about the moment you realize everything you believed to be true isn’t, and the disorienting, necessary work of finding something else to stand on.

The video takes that idea somewhere unexpected: the band shows up to play and finds the venue completely empty. The only reasonable explanation is that their friends were kidnapped by an evil wizard and his dragon. What follows is exactly what you’d expect from a band that would rather slay a dragon than cancel a set.

Champagne Sunday is husband and wife Jessi and Jared Fredeen, and together they perform with the kind of energy that makes a coffee shop feel like an arena. Their self-described "glam-folk" sound covers a lot of ground in a single set — gypsy-punk rock songs, intimate tear-jerkers, anthemic foot-stompers — all delivered with compelling stories woven between tracks and a showmanship that is equal parts polish and heart. Music Connection called them "the perfect example of following your bliss" and the assessment is hard to argue with. What sets Champagne Sunday apart is their ability to perform at the same intensity for a festival crowd, a club, or a house concert without adjusting the dial at all. The power comes from conviction, not volume. That rare ability to fill any space with genuine presence and leave audiences feeling like they've witnessed something real is what the Gigs4U platform was built to celebrate.