Alisa Amador

Amador is the daughter of Latin folk musicians, Rosi and Brian Amador of the band, Sol y Canto. At age five, she began performing as the band's backup singer on tour.^[4] She studied abroad in Argentina.^[5] In 2018, she graduated from Bates College with a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[6]

In 2018, Amador submitted to NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest for the first time. WBUR stated, "It was clear from the young singer’s deft musicianship that she was an artist to watch."^[3]

In 2019, Amador performed at the Cambridge Arts Council River Festival and at Club Passim's 60th anniversary celebration at the Shubert Theatre in Boston. She regularly played gigs at Club Passim.^[4] She was featured in WGBH's series, "Bands You Should Know".^[7]

In 2020, she won an Iguana Music Fund grant to help buy recording equipment.^[4] She released the tracks “Red Balloon” and “Milonga Accidental".^[8] She performed for the benefit livestream concert, All In For Chelsea.^[9]

In 2021, she released “Timing", ahead of her album release, Narratives.^[10] Grateful Web complimented Amador's talent on Narratives for "sparking connection across both listeners and musical styles".^[11] She was chosen by Tiny Desk as one of their favorite 2021 entries.^[12]

In 2022, Amador submitted to Tiny Desk for the fifth time and was chosen as the national winner.^[13][14] Bob Boilen called her, "a powerful voice whose tender performance commands attention and fosters connection."^[14] In an interview with Sound of Boston, Amador recalls how she got the news while recording in Nashville: “I was going through press interviews as I was recording songs with Emily and Lizzy and the band. At first [the news] was secret, like super secret, and then it went out to the entire country that I had won, all in that one week we were recording.”^[15]

As her prize, Amador flew to Washington D.C. to perform her Tiny Desk show.^[16] It was the first show to be recorded in the original NPR Tiny Desk studio at Boilen's desk in two years.^[17]

Afterwards, Amador performed on the Tiny Desk Contest On The Road national tour at WAMU, KEXP, WABE, LAist/KPCC, and WFUV.^[18]

She considered quitting music right before she won Tiny Desk.^[19]

Amador was nominated for New Artist of the Year and won Folk Artist of the Year at the 2022 Boston Music Awards.^[20][21][22] In fall of that year, Amador was awarded a grant for a forthcoming album from the nonprofit Salt Lick Incubator.^[23] In May 2023, Amador opened Boston Calling Music Festival, performing songs in both Spanish and English. Boston Magazine wrote that her set was one of the best moments of the weekend.^[24]