Event

Sharkk Heartt and Jillian Bessett at A Church - Salida, Colorado

Tucson, Arizona songwriters Sharkk Heartt and Jillian Bessett join forces for this powerhouse double-header, part of a tour including dates in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.

Lara Ruggles is a songwriter, musician, and music producer performing simmering down-tempo electronic-leaning folk-pop songs under the stage name Sharkk Heartt, reminiscent of London Grammar or Florence and the Machine. Since 2011, Ruggles has released an EP, two albums, and four standalone singles both as Sharkk Heartt and under her own name. In 2017, Ruggles shared the stage with multiple Grammy Award winner LeAnn Rimes as part of her Today is Christmas tour; from 2018-2020, Ruggles toured with activist and Colorado poet laureate Andrea Gibson; in 2021, her music video for Work Fires from her album Wars Our Mothers Fought won both the Tucson Idea Funding Creative Battle award and Best Music Video at the Apex Film Festival; and in 2023 she spent the month of May as the National Parks Arts Foundations artist-in-residence at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Jillian Bessett is a vocal loop artist who uses the Boss RC-505 to create a lush audial landscape beneath layers of intricate harmonies. Her evocative lyrics and charming stage presence has endeared her to audiences throughout the southwest music scene--opening for nationally touring acts like Lake Street Dive and The Messthetics (ex Fugazi). The keystone, however, is that instantly recognizable smoky alto voice that has prompted comparisons to Amy Winehouse, Feist, Nina Simone, and Adele.