Meet Ella Webster

Artform: Music
Issues addressed in artwork: womanhood, traditional heritage preservation

Ella Webster, 22, of Lexington is a songwriter, studio musician, and performer in folk, Kentucky old time, Bluegrass, rock and Americana genres. Her work addresses womanhood, grief, a sense of place, Kentucky, heritage, preserving her grandfather’s songwriting, and preserving traditional Kentucky old time fiddle tunes.

She tours nationally with Cole Chaney, has played with the Local Honeys, and the indie act Nari. She has been featured on many country, bluegrass, and old time recordings including The Local Honeys “The Gospel.” She is from Lexington, but her grandparents are from Pikeville. She was raised in the east Kentucky old time music community and was mentee to Pike County fiddler Jimmy McCown. She is a young woman who is a primary tradition bearer of East Kentucky fiddle music.

Although she is touring full time with Cole Chaney, she still makes it a priority to participate in key cultural events in the traditional music community. She was a teaching assistant at the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School this year, performed at the Stidham Old Time Gathering, and won the string-band competition at the Elliot County Fiddler’s convention. Ella consistently engages with the Kentucky traditional music community through jamming, teaching, performing, and volunteering, including being very involved with CANE kitchen in Letcher County after the flood of 2022.

Her nominator says, “Ella is an amazing artist and a feminist. She acts in her relationships to bring people towards a greater understanding of women’s experiences and paves the way for young girls and women to be professional instrumentalists. She is changing the culture of her artistic community.”

Ella says of her work, “In the country/Americana music scene where I primarily perform as a fiddler, there is a small number of female musicians, especially instrumentalists. Festivals or shows disproportionately feature fewer female acts. At shows, I am almost always the only female performer present and am the only woman in the band that I tour with. The “othering” of women in a male-dominated music scene is something I have had to live and grapple with to succeed. Equipped with these experiences, I make it a point to foster community among women, young and old, at the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School where I teach every summer. This comes in the form of organizing female jams or mentoring the new generation of young women at the camp. My original music covers themes of womanhood through storytelling, coming of age, friendship dynamics in relationships, and external pressures from society or men in my life. As a touring artist and member of the Kentucky folk/country/Americana music scene, my goal is to create community as I have seen so many women do before me. Whether at Cowan Creek music school, a show, a festival, or a jam, I know that through my own outreach I may exemplify how to create safe and welcoming spaces for all.”

In the words of her nominator, “she brings the spirit of the traditional music community to the contemporary country and bluegrass scene which is heavily male-dominated and distracted from place-based tradition. She has forged musical partnerships and friendships with many young working-class men who at times hold more traditional values than her. Often, I see their expectation thwarted by her highly skilled musicianship alongside her non-competitive, community-minded attitude in music. Ella has pushed through this discomfort with firm kindness, and undeniable musicianship to begin shaping the culture of Kentucky’s commercial music scene.”

Not only is Ella a seasoned touring musician as a fiddler and backing vocalist, but she has also begun to write her own songs and rehearse them with a band. She has a handful of songs that are all clever, moving, and filled with little feminist puzzle pieces that lock into the emotional body of the songs with impressive ease.

In response to receiving the Firestarter Award, she says, “I am honored to have received this award, and humbled to share it with past recipients like Grace Rogers, Ellie Ruth, and Teja Sudhakar, whom I seriously look up to.”

Instagram: @ellakwebster