Imagine leaving your country in search of beauty, love and truth. That’s exactly what Caroline Cotto was brave enough to do after her 22nd birthday. She toiled away in the NYC music scene for years before she left to live in Paris and explore Europe for artistic opportunities to enrich her writing and music. She dreamed by the Seine, wrote in cafes and wandered the Louvre for hours. She describes this as her own beautiful version of the Lost Generation. Caroline then lived in London playing blues and soaking up the history of her rock heroes before moving to New Orleans. She is the winner of the 2024 INDEPENDENT BLUES AWARDS for BEST NEW ARTIST AND BEST NEW ARTIST RELEASE - BAYOU SUN. Her music has been featured on high profile radio shows such as BBC Radio 2's 'The Blues Show' with Cerys Matthews, Little Steven's Underground Garage, Genya Ravan's show, 'Goldie's Garage' and Slim Jim Phantom's 'Rockabilly Rave Up.' Her song, 'A Momma To Cry To' was on Cashbox Radio's Top 20 songs for March 2022 and has been featured by Eric Alper, Cashbox Canada, Grateful Web and Tinnitist. She has performed and been interviewed on 'Great Day Louisiana' on WWLTV by Malik Mongo. Her album, Bayou Sun was named one of  the Top Blues Albums for February 2024 by the Toronto Blues Society.

 

Growing up, she spent her time reading literature and writing poetry. Her passion for poetry began when she read Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee." At a young age, this poem spurred her curiosity for the capacity of love and suffering in the human soul. She became a published poet before the age of twelve and garnered local attention for her essay, 'What does the American Flag Mean to Me?,' which she won two years consecutively for a contest given by the Daughters of the American Revolution society. Words were not enough. Caroline needed a vehicle for these words. Music became that vehicle. She remembers her father playing The Beatles songs on guitar. He taught her a few chords and then she became obsessed with the instrument. The first song she learned was 'A Hard Day’s Night' by The Beatles. Incorporating everything from blues to rock to soul, she was on a quest to find her voice. She began to sing and play at church, talent shows and even during recess at school. She carried her guitar everywhere and it became her most trustworthy companion.

 

As a teenager, Caroline performed her original music at open mics. She would watch clips of Woodstock and blast classic rock to ignite her inspiration. She went to Connecticut College for two years before transferring to New York University. In Connecticut, she became active in the New London music and poetry scene. She performed spoken word and sang at college events and parties. When she returned to New York, she became a regular performer at the famous East Village music venue, Sidewalk Cafe - and even performed at a Jeff Buckley Tribute Show with guitar legend Gary Lucas. Quiet, but determined, she knew her home was somewhere outside New York in faraway lands in different cities meeting strangers who shared her passions. Before she left for Paris in 2015, Caroline recorded her debut EP, “Devil in Me” in the Catskills. Her EP became number one in the Blues Charts in Paris on ReverbNation - and held that spot for several years. After she spent over a year and half in Europe, she felt the South beckoning her. She went on a road trip across America and ended up in New Orleans. Like her previous voyages to foreign places, she did not know anyone in the city but followed her desires and arrived like Odysseus after his long voyage - home. In New Orleans, she spent days and nights in jazz/blues clubs across the city meeting musicians and building her name. She honed her craft and sound by playing three-to-four-hour gigs and sitting in with various bands. In October 2023, she released her debut album, 'Bayou Sun' which features Chris Layton of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble on drums, Country Hall of Fame Drummer Eddie Bayers (Dolly Parton, The Beach Boys, Elton John) and Ronnie Eades, co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Horns on saxophone.

 

Caroline Cotto is an artist who has thought deeply about her experiences. Her poetic lyrics and soulful voice weave the story of a woman on a journey to her salvation, a woman who has sacrificed the familiar for her dreams, a woman with incessant curiosity and desire to better herself and the world- and she never goes a day without writing by a burning candle.