Ahead of new album, ‘Voice’ contestant Stephanie Anne Johnson, of Tacoma, brings soulful sounds to Hamilton Recording Studio

Washington’s own Stephanie Anne Johnson has opened for many names of musical legend, but ahead of their brand-new album they will be bringing a full-fledged taste of soulful Americana to the Hamilton Studio Listening Room.

Long before Johnson was competing on “The Voice” and opening for artists like Mavis Staples, Taj Mahal and Steve Earle, Johnson was a child growing up in Tacoma and being raised by an eclectic array of music.

With a jazz pianist brother, a grandmother who played the blues day in and day out, a grandfather who loved classic rock, and a mother who would listen to everything from Willie Nelson to the Beatles, it’s safe to say Johnson has had their fair share of the musical landscape. Certain days even meant certain sounds; Saturdays for cleaning to the soul of James Brown, Sundays for gospel.

Johnson also sang in public school choirs and explored music in Spanish and Latin as well before beginning to study outright classical vocals around age 13.

“It was pretty rad,” said Johnson, who uses they/them pronouns. “I was a privileged person growing up to hear a lot of different, beautiful sounds.”

All of these sounds and experiences have morphed over time into Johnson’s own music today. Their striking vocals evoke the timeless hues of the blues and the authentic ethos of Americana, alongside a sense of soul near impossible to ignore.

These attributes arise in multiple different fashions. While their last record, “Jewels” from 2023, wasn’t afraid to sit on the more somber side of the fence and encompass the listener in long, broad strokes of melancholy, next month’s album provides sunlight beaming down after a storm.

“One of the things that I find delicious … is still continuing to laugh and have fun and talk about love, and falling in love, and moving on,” Johnson said. “It’s meant to be a really fun record but, of course, being that it’s me, it’s also pretty emotional as well.”

A few years ago, the sound engineer of a Seattle show called Johnson and the band “relentlessly fun,” a description they’re trying to live up to more than ever. In quoting the famed novel “The Outsiders,” Johnson said that although right now things may be “rough all over,” giving your heart room to be pleased and finding the joys within the ever-fleeting human experience remain of the utmost importance.

“It’s wonderful to be outraged, it’s wonderful to be incensed, it’s wonderful to know what you won’t stand for,” Johnson said. “But it is also a skill and a muscle to know what you like, and what you will stand for, and what you can’t live without.”

After “Sing, baby!” is released on Oct. 17, Johnson hopes the album simultaneously helps listeners get through their day while also feeling seen and relating to the stories found within the songs.

“I hope people listen to the record and feel like, ‘Oh, this is about me, I’ve had experiences like this!’” Johnson said.

But before the album is released next month, Johnson will be performing an intimate set at the Hamilton Studio Listening Room on Friday. Johnson intentionally performs in a personable manner that creates a sense of conversation between the audience and the artist; Johnson wants to break down those pre-existing barriers.

“I really hope that people feel included and I hope that people walk away feeling warm and welcomed,” Johnson said. “People will forget what you said, but they’ll remember how you make them feel.”