Shayna Steele Announces New Album & Tour Dates

Jazz musician, Broadway performer, and powerhouse vocalist Shayna Steele has announced Gold Dust, a genre-spanning collection of originals and covers set for release April 21 through Ropeadope Records.

Steele, a former demo and backup singer for Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, Rihanna, and Bette Midler and original Broadway cast member of Hairspray began work on Gold Dust reluctantly during a period of paralyzing self-doubt during the pandemic.

While finishing her music degree during lockdown at Berklee College Of Music, she found songwriting to be cathartic. It was there that she penned "The Bloodline," a reverent but hopeful commentary on social justice and racial issues in the United States sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

Out today, "The Bloodline" marks the first single from Gold Dust. "With 'The Bloodline,' I wanted to reclaim the joy of what it means to be black, but with a heaviness to the production. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, all the things our ancestors did even though they were considered 3/5 of a person," said Steele.

This week, Atwood Magazine published an essay by Steele on finding joy through trauma, and the cathartic experience of writing "The Bloodline" and called the video, co-directed by Jacob Wahba and Matt Solnick, "A cinematic, beautifully intimate black-and-white visual captur[ing] the depth, the passion, the emotion, and the raw energy at the core of Steele's inspiring song."

Additional tracks on Gold Dust include a rollicking cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman," a propulsive version of Radiohead's "Faust Arp," and an original, "January," which leads to a crescendo led by Steele's magnetic voice. A full tracklist is included below.

On March 18, Steele will kick off a run of US tour dates at Chicago's Freedom Hall. A full itinerary is included below.

Watch the new music video here:

SHAYNA STEELE: On Tour 2023

March
18 - Park Forest, IL - Freedom Hall
19 - Indianapolis, IN - The Jazz Kitchen
21 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Midtown GR
22 - Evanston, IL - Space
23 - Des Moines, IA - Temple Theater

April
27 - Bethesda, MD- Strathmore AMP
28 - Charlotte, NC - Middle C Jazz Club
29 - Alpharetta, GA - Velvet Note
30 - Nashville, TN - City Winery (double bill with Nashville Jazz Orchestra)

May
5 - Biloxi, MS- Ground Zero Blues Club
6 - Phenix City, AL- Phenix City Amphitheater
9 - Sarasota, FL- Fogartyville (WSLR)
10 - Miami, FL - Faena Jazz Series
11 - Cocoa Beach, FL - Heidi's Jazz Club
12 - Ocala, FL - Levitt AMP Ocala
24 - Portsmouth, NH - Jimmy's Jazz