Tess Henley Tonight at the Sorrento Hotel

So some musicians out there are trying to figure out if social networking sites like Twitter are for them or not. Personally, I think that every case is different and it's honestly not for every musician out there. But at the local level, it can be really helpful to get your name out. A few weeks ago, local singer/pianist Tess Henley started following me on Twitter. Yes, surprise surprise, I'm on there -- as are half the musicians in Seattle it seems. For me, it's totally work related... don't hate. Anyway, I'd never heard of Henley before, so I clicked on her website, listened to her songs, and was really impressed with the vocal range and soulful sounds that are draped over all of her music.

She sings as if she was raised by church gospel and BET. But she's from Kent and is the most doe-eyed white girl I've seen in awhile. The mixture has piqued my interest. You can tell she's got a deep love for music by Alicia Keys, India.Arie, and the like, but somewhere in there is a style that's all Tess Henley. I can't say that I wouldn't have found her without Twitter, but she definitely expedited the process by hitting me up in a different medium than just my work email. And tonight, barring the unexpected, I've got plans to go check her out at the Sorrento Hotel in First Hill where she'll be starting up around 8:30 p.m. and probably singing until around 10 p.m. or later. Check out her video above for the song, "Disguise" and if you like what you hear, come on by. It's free. And you can tweet all you want.