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Date: 6/14/2022
EASTHAMPTON – Kimaya Diggs has come a long way from singing around the dinner table with her sisters. The 29-year-old is increasingly a featured performer on some of the biggest local stages including music halls and festivals.
Born and raised in South Hadley, she lives and works out of her home in Easthampton. This homespun performer loves nature, the moon and the sun. It’s apparent in her music, and where she chooses to appear – such as the Asparagus Festival in Hadley.
“I love it. I will truly never get over it. I feel so much love from the community. None of my accomplishments happened in a vacuum. I’ll never get over hearing my songs on the radio.
It’s been great to feel the tangible support of the local community. It’s pretty huge,” she said.
Local art critics have given Diggs and her folksy-soul music rave reviews. Her songs have also appeared on local radio station 93.9 The River. Diggs single “How Am I Sposta Know” placed No. 7 on the station’s top-10 Best New Songs of 2018. She grabbed sixth place on the list in 2021 with her follow-up hit “They Can Say What They Like.”
Diggs released her debut album “Breastfed” in 2018. “I wrote a lot of the songs on that album when I had just graduated from college. I was sort of figuring out how to do things on my own. At the same time my mom’s illness was progressing and things just felt very complicated. A lot of the songs explore those ideas,” she said.
Diggs writes and sings about epic events in her life. The passing of her mother found a special place in her music.
“My mom died on Mother’s Day 2021 after a long illness. That is something I’ve been writing about in my poetry, short stories, essays and songs,” she said. “I had been anticipating that moment for a long time. When it finally happened, it spurred another wave of creativity because I was finally in the moment I had been imagining and fearing for so long,” said Diggs.
Music has been in the Diggs family for generations. Her great grandfather was a vaudeville performer, singing and playing the trumpet and piano. Her grandfather loved classical music and would read musical scores for fun and then call his young granddaughter to discuss them.
Diggs has been steeped in music since the time she could utter her first words. “We sang around the house all the time, experimenting with harmony while making up songs and plays with music. We’d sing at lunchtime or when we were laying in our beds at night. Then we’d sing again in the morning when we woke up. There was music all the time,” she said.
Diggs is on track to release her second album next year. There is a dark tone in some of her music, but it is mixed with optimism and hope. Once again, she turns to nature, drawing metaphors from the life cycle of a plant.
“Whenever big life changes happen it feels like everything has fallen apart and I always go back to the metaphors that are in nature to remind myself even if things do die, wither and fall apart there is always a point in time when things start growing again,” she said.
Diggs thrives on stage and glows when she’s performing, explaining she finds the act to be intimate and powerful.
“I love connecting with people that I don’t know in unique ways and sharing my voice with someone. Having them get something from the music I’m sharing is such an incredible treat. It really sustains me,” she said.
For information on Kimaya Diggs upcoming performances visit her website at www.kimayadiggs.com or follow her on Instagram @kimayadiggs.