RAIN DOESN'T DAMPER ANASTASIA ELLIOT'S VISION AT SOIL & SKY FEST

I'm music magazine, anastasia elliot, women in rock, soil & sky fest, soil and sky festival, festival, saxapahaw, north carolina, women in rock, rock, woman, la petite mort, cigarettes and gasoline, masquerade, london, crash landing, concert photography, taylor swift,

The first annual Soil & Sky Fest in Saxapahaw, North Carolina on Saturday, September 23, 2023 saw more than its fair share of rain throughout the event. It was the first day of fall and the coolness arrived with temps in the upper 50’s. Wasn’t it just in the 90’s a week before here in North Carolina? Well, the rain didn’t stop the event from going on. People showed up with their ponchos, umbrellas and mud boots and were determined to have a great time. Anastasia Elliot drove in from Nashville, Tennessee to perform at the event. She’s an artist that we’ve featured a lot in I’m Music Magazine. Her debut album La Petite Mort finally saw the light of day a few weeks ago after being in the works for over a decade. It’s an incredibly passionate album about going through trauma in your life and rebounding back. It’s an inspirational album and one of our favorites of 2023.

We were excited to see Anastasia perform for the first time and a little rain, sometimes a lot, wasn’t going to get in our way. Her outfit for the event was, just like her, totally bad-ass. Props go out to her mom for all of the time and effort that went into making her outfit. She had limited space to move around on the stage due to the monitors and other equipment at the front of stage being draped in tarps to protect it from the rain. That didn’t stop her from delivering a performance as if she was playing at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. She played a 45 minute set of songs from her debut album. “Cigarettes and Gasoline,” “London,” “Masquerade” and “C’est La Vie” were some of the tracks played and they received a great response from the large crowd that stood out in the rain watching her perform. Although most of the crowd wasn’t very familiar with her going into the festival, they stood there in the rain, cold and wet, yet fixated on Anastasia. She had them clapping, dancing and even singing along.

There were four fans, two were young kids, who stood at the stage singing word for word. I didn’t get a chance to catch up with them after the show to talk, but I did hear one say that they drove from Tennessee to see her. It was a very fun set and well worth getting soaked in the cold rain. When the music is that good and there’s a connection being made that makes you feel it deep in your soul, then all of the other elements seem to get canceled out. As crazy as it sounds, the rain added an element to it that made it even that even more special. If you’ve ever stood in the rain to watch your favorite band perform, then most of you get it.

Anastasia is a multi-talented artist in a day and age where technology makes up for a lack of talent from way too many in the industry. She’s a singer, songwriter, producer, graphic design artist and probably a few more talents that I am not aware of. She’s an artist to keep your eyes and ears on and you can remember where you heard about her first.

Review & Pix: I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price