LIVE MUSIC: Brittany Ann Tranbaugh & Sadie Gustafson-Zook

Brittany Ann Tranbaugh (pronounced TRAN-baw) is a Philadelphia-based songwriter whose queer Americana heartbreaker “Kiss You” won Song of the Year in the 2021 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Tranbaugh has been writing songs and playing shows as a side gig since she was a teenager, but in February 2023, at 31 years old, she finally quit her office job to pursue a full-time career in music. Her newest release is a self-titled EP produced by Grammy-winner Tyler Chester which showcases Tranbaugh in her new era: energetic, self-assured, surrounded by her beloved musical community, and more commanding as a vocalist and writer than ever before.

Every time Sadie Gustafson-Zook (pronounced GUST-of-sin Zook (rhyming with “book”) carves a linoleum block, sews a pencil case out of scraps, or admires the way the ink in her Pilot G-2 glides over her journal, she thinks, “I should be doing this all the time.” The act of creating something tangible is the air Sadie breathes. Her songwriting is the same- weaving an internal dialogue, the stories she tells herself, warm melodies and clever chords into something real, something she can physically feel with her hands and her throat. And chances are that you’ll be able to feel them too. Sadie’s songs have been endorsed by some of the most respected songwriting contests in the country, winning Kerrville Folk Festival’s 2022 New Folk Contest (as well as placing as a finalist in 2020), earning second place at the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest’s Songwriter Showcase, and winning first place at the NewSong + LEAF Songwriting Contest. Sadie has been featured on the Basic Folk podcast and on Folk Alley.