Songwriter
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Hey, I’m Carmen O’Keefe. I’m a musician writing songs in Buffalo, New York.

 

My mom had me young when she was still in music school and I grew up listening to her practice. It was normal for us to make music around the house and we had access to a lot of instruments as kids. My mom was always intentional in letting us naturally develop as musicians as we got older and she made sure we made music because we wanted to. In college, music was more of a chore and I didn't feel any type of direction or interest. After I graduated I had no desire to have anything to do with music professionally and took a year off.

 
 
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The wind blows through the trees around w

hispering your soft song

- 11.2

 
 

There were two things that changed my indifferent attitude toward music. First I started listening to songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O'Donovan. Those records, especially Aoife's songwriting made me love music again. In parallel to that reawakening, I was asked to play a gig with my cousin Lizzy in 2016 because we used to record YouTube videos together when we were kids. We enjoyed learning all the songs together so we decided to keep it going. We played cover gigs around Western New York as a duo and eventually started writing songs together. I had never seen myself as much of a songwriter but writing with Lizzy opened my mind and gave me confidence in writing for the first time. Since then we have released two records and are working on our next EP. Now writing is our favorite thing to do!

Lizzy and I don't spend as much time together as we used to so we don't write as much. That has left me some room to start focusing on some music myself. I feel more exposed as I write these songs since I don't have the buffer of another person but it has been good for me. Lizzy and I have been able to do a lot together and I miss the consistency of our band but I am looking forward to figuring out how to do this on my own. I am really happy you are here.

Much love,

Carmen

 
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SHAPESHIFTER SINGLE

 
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LIVE

 
 
 
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