Pamela Means is a Brooklyn-based Out (spoken), biracial, independent, nationally and internationally touring artist whose “mad-guitar-and-vocal skills,” razor wit poetry and irresistible charm have captivated audiences across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia.
She performs both high energy folk as well as jazz in over 150 shows each year at colleges, theaters, clubs, coffeehouses, and festivals. She is a favorite at Black History Month and Women’s Month celebrations, Gay Pride events, and Take Back the Night rallies. With Truth as ammunition, a Pamela Means performance brings the struggle for social justice and human dignity to the forefront of a new generation.
A multi-talented performer, singer, songwriter, composer and producer, Means has released seven CDs including her latest,
Precedent (2009), which addresses a range of themes from the state of the union to the state of the heart. Her politically-provocative acoustic album,
Single Bullet Theory, was voted 2004 “Outmusic Outstanding New Recording.” Her
Pamela Means Jazz Project, Vol. 1, was named "Top Ten Album of 2007" by Muruch entertainment website.
Means has shared the stage with artists including Ani DiFranco, Pete Seeger, Indigo Girls, Joan Baez, Neil Young, Shawn Colvin, Richie Havens, Patty Larkin, Melissa Ferrick, Violent Femmes, Television, The Radiators, Adrian Belew, Leo Kottke and Janis Ian.
Not only is Means an award-winning, politically-provocative guitar virtuoso, she is also a conservatory trained artist newly fronting her own jazz trio, Pamela Means Jazz Project, in which “Means takes her rightful place among contemporary superstar jazz vocalists such as Cassandra Wilson and Norah Jones” (
Curve Magazine). Means’s sixth and latest album,
Pamela Means Jazz Project, Vol. 1, (Wirl Records) is a resurfacing of her roots in classical and jazz guitar study at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Pamela’s “velvet voice” and “tasty” jazz guitar are front and center on this “live in the studio with no overdubs” set, fresh and frisky in classic jazz trio with drums and upright bass.
With her “dizzying acoustic guitar riffs” (Boston Globe) and “powerful songs” (Time Out NY) Means is “redefining acoustic music...”(Washington Blade).
