Wildly original, melodic and passionate, Carolyn Striho’s music has been described as being written “from the silver edge of midnight” (All-Music Guide, USA). Regarded as one of the city’s best singer/songwriters, Carolyn has gained a strong reputation for charismatic, high-energy stage performances with her singing, vocals, guitar, and keyboards.
Carolyn’s music is born of art rock and soul, with a bit of classical, folk, punk, and cabaret in the mix. She writes stories of desire, longing, activism, mystery, and love, strong, caressing, and dreamy. On piano, Carolyn has an authentic, enchanting, and exciting style with a flamenco mix of jazz and blues. On guitar, she favors a heavy rock and roll percussive rhythm. From her early days in Detroit to her current evocative music, Carolyn’s alluring vocal delivery with a powerful rock and roll folk eclectic sound hypnotizes crowds onstage and on recordings. She is also an educator, teaching high school students.
Carolyn’s song with Erin Zindle was on the 2024 Grammy Awards First Ballot 2024 for Best Roots Song/Performance (“The Bridge”) and her recent album “Detroit (Maiden Energy)” was on the 2022 Grammy Awards First Ballot for Best Spoken Word album and her album “Afterthought” was on the 2018 Grammy Awards First Ballot for Best Rock Album. Carolyn’s won 11 Detroit Music Awards and a Billboard Music Award.
Detroit (Maiden Energy)” street princess poems & lyrics is a volume one of Carolyn’s writing reaching deep into stories of growing up in Detroit and a music lifetime. The book was on the Amazon best new sellers in October 2019 and a best seller at Horizon Books Traverse City 2020.
Carolyn is also featured in a 2023 national book “Hit Girls” Women in Punk in the USA ” which explores her teenage years and groundbreaking musical debut (written by Jen Larsen, Feral House Publishing). She and husband/guitarist Scott Dailey were also recently named best of the Top 100 Unsigned National Bands by L.A.’s Music Connection.
“Detroit (Maiden Energy)” received great reviews from NPR Detroit’s Ann Delisi, Billboard Magazine’s Gary Graff, former Detroit Metro Times editor Brian Jabas Smith, Hour Detroit’s Jim McFarlin and more. Carolyn’s poetry is also featured in “Respect: The Poetry of Detroit Music” and an upcoming rock and roll poetry anthology. Carolyn has performed on tour with Patti Smith and with Don Was, Was (Not Was) with Carolyn’s band Detroit Energy Asylum, and in England with Yoko Ono, Steve Earle, Tori Amos, Sinead O’Connor, Grace Jones and so many iconic artists. She’s also played with The Slits, The Ramones, Iggy Pop and the list goes on!
Carolyn’s performed several times in London and Isle of Wight U.K., many times in Rome and Fiuggi, Italy, a 2 months’ music residency in Osaka, Japan and shows in Toronto, Chicago, at Lollapalooza, The Detroit Jazz Festival, Concert of Colors and northern Michigan festivals.
“The delightful difficulty people have in pigeonholing Striho was underscored in one of Carolyn’s Detroit Music Award trophies in 2010, a startling victory for her techno remix of “Promised Land” from her Outstanding CD of the Year in Rock/Pop “Honesty” (Ben Edmonds, Detroit Free Press/Mojo Magazine).
Carolyn’s videos have been nominated and screened for several music awards, Germany and international festivals. Carolyn appears in several international films, including a German film called “Motor City Music” Her music is also featured in the recent Emmy awarded PBS films “Those on the Front Lines of Cancer” and “The Embrace of Aging.” Carolyn has battled a severe illness and understands.
Carolyn is a poetic songwriter who plays piano (sometimes with the heel of her boot) and acoustic guitar (with her fingers) while singing in a style that might be jazzy, bluesy, torchy, fiery or any combination of the above…strutting and growling and singing a version of “Downtown” that would have made Petula Clark feel like tourist, she’s worth tracking down! (Neal Rubin, Detroit News)
From Carolyn’s early punk/art/free form days as the lead songwriter, vocalist, keyboardist on her Farfisa organ with the Cubes while she was a DJ on NPR WDET-FM on “Radios in Motion” to performing with the Ramones to Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, to England’s Ultravox and the Slits, Iggy Pop, to her hard rhythmic Detroit Energy Asylum band with the Was (Not Was) ensemble and to working with Patti Smith and various soul artists, Carolyn continues to walk to her own drum down an amazing path.
Photos 1 and 2 above by Lynn Maslowski, photo 3 by Jaclyn Schanes.
AWARDS:
2022 – Grammy Awards First Ballot for Best Spoken Word Album – “Detroit (Maiden Energy)”
2020 – Top Five Bestselling Books “Detroit (Maiden Energy)” – Horizon Books Traverse City, Michigan (January)
2019 – New Bestsellers Amazon Books – “Detroit (Maiden Energy)” (October)
2018 – Grammy Award First Ballot for Best Rock Album – ” Afterthought”
2017 – Honorary Award for Outstanding Songwriter Rock/Pop – Detroit Music Awards
2016 – Outstanding Rock/Pop Songwriter – Detroit Music Awards
2015 – Outstanding Rock/Pop Songwriter – Detroit Music Awards
2014 – Outstanding Folk/Acoustic (Americana) Recording “Word Attack” – Detroit Music Awards
2014 – Outstanding Classical Composer – Detroit Music Awards
2014 – Outstanding Classical Recording – Detroit Music Awards
2012 – Outstanding National Indie Band – Detroit Music Awards
2012 – Outstanding Folk/Acoustic Instrumentalist – Detroit Music Awards
2010 – Outstanding Rock/Pop Recording – “Honesty” – Detroit Music Awards
2010 – Outstanding Electronica/Techno Recording – “Promised Land Redux” – Detroit Music Awards
2010 – Outstanding Folk/Acoustic Instrumentalist – Detroit Music Awards
2008 – Billboard Magazine Honorable Mention “Enchante”
1992 – Outstanding Miscellaneous Instrumentalist – Motor City Music/Metro Times Awards
