Vocalist, guitarist, and fiddler Anya Hinkle was born in southwestern Virginia and currently lives in Asheville, western North Carolina. She is deeply inspired by the Appalachian string band, american folk, and bluegrass traditions.
Anya is a founding member of Asheville-based bands Dehlia Low and Tellico. She won the MerleFest Chris Austin Songwriting Competition in 2019 and was a finalist in the Hazel Dickens Song Contest for her song “Ballad of Zona Abston,” included on Tellico’s 2018 release Woven Waters. The album, produced by Irish guitar virtuoso John Doyle had a #1 single, #1 band and #2 album ranking on the Folk DJ charts in November 2018.
In 2021 she released the single “What’s It Gonna Take?” This was a collaboration with her neighbor Graham Sharp (Steep Canyon Rangers) that was conceived on the day that news broke of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers.
“In fraught moments, you usually write what you need to write, to process what’s going and find the words to move forward,” said Sharp. “This was the case with ‘What’s It Gonna Take.’ My first instinct as we were writing was to look inside myself and what I could do. It was a very raw moment to see the pain of George Floyd and the Black community and know that I needed to account for myself in that moment.”
“Writing was the only way to really open up to things we often keep locked inside, things that aren’t pretty to examine, that are scary in fact,” Hinkle added. “It helped us get honest about that, to push through some kind of strange fear of admitting how clearly some of us benefit from the system and others just lose over and over again. I don’t think the song does anything except to invite people to take a look at this sparkling mess and admit it’s there and needs to be reckoned with.”
As events continued to develop, the pair worked to complete the song, and when it was finished, Hinkle began to think about how to record it. Anya reached out to a couple of other musicians from western North Carolina and invited them in. “When we went into the studio to cut the single,” she recounted “we asked a master of the sacred steel guitar, DaShawn Hickman, and gospel singer Wendy Hickman to join us in asking ‘what’s it gonna take?’ Bringing in their voices was an important part of processing the difficult summer, building trust and beauty through song. Only by listening to Black voices are we going to know what it’s gonna take.”
Discography:
Old Time Duets, with Jackson Cunningham (Crooked Road, 2006)
Dehlia Low, with Dehlia Low (2008)
Tellico, with Dehlia Low (2009)
Live, with Dehlia Low (2010)
Ravens & Crows, with Dehlia Low (Rebel Records, 2011)
Relics And Roses, with Tellico (2015)
Forsaken Winds (2016)
Woven Waters, with Tellico (Organic Records, 2018)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.