Sierra Sikora is a musician you should definitely get to know. Blending folksy tunes with pop sensibilities, the Chicago native served as the opening act for Josie Edwards’ “the good girls” Tour, which concluded September 19th at The Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles.

I had the opportunity to photograph Sikora’s brief set last week (Monday September 15th) at Schubas Tavern in, well, her hometown of Chicago. Decked out in a solid black body suit (complete with matching shoes, lace floral tights and oh-so trendy black leg warmers), the Windy City native confidently stood onstage -trusty acoustic guitar in-hand. Happy to be in her element.

During the hop-skip chorus of her song “Dear Athena” (an ode to the mythological Greek goddess of warfare, wisdom and craftwork), Sikora encouraged the audience to clap along as she sang, “Athena, pick up your scroll. Give me just a word / This war’s taken a toll…”. The singer marveled at the crowd. “You’re clapping on rhythm!”, she exclaimed enthusiastically. “You [guys] sound great!”

Indeed, there’s plenty to celebrate.

This past May, Sikora put out her (self-produced, thank you very much) debut EP, ‘Confessions’, after releasing a handful of singles over the past few years. Per her EPK (Electronic Press Kit), the 19 years old has been honing her craft since 3 years old through church performances. Over time, Sikora steadily cultivated a following throughout the Chicagoland area (at press time, Sikora has amassed 47.8K Instagram followers!)

Honing her craft has definitely payed off for the Windy City native, as evident in her final song of the evening, “Hopeless Summer”. The track’s peppy tune finds Sikora musing, in child-like wonder, “Maybe we can be more than friends. Hopeless summer / Chasing what I can’t have. And I want you so bad. Like no other …So I’ll spend these July nights with you”.

We were lucky that Sikora spent this September night in her hometown with us.

Follow Sierra Sikora here:

•Instagram: @sierrasikoramusic

•Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Hm6XysSKvYMCEEjFlmGoR?si=-OBf00uwQdOe9HyAYE0EBw