BOOKING
The S.R.BATTERSON and NGOZZI project
Chicago-based singer-songwriter Ngozzi and myself have been inspired by each other's work for some time. We've now brought our styles together in a show that is a combo of song, story and soundscape that's both intimate and explorative. She is currently promoting her upcoming debut album, which she is putting the finishing touches on. I have been developing live the collection of songs that will make up my second release and first full-length album.
The show debuted at Uncommon Ground on October 30, 2025.
Total run time: Flexible, 1-2 hours.
Here are a few videos that will give you a feel for the show and bios for each of us.
NGOZZI
Daughter of Nkem Obiekwe and Marvin Morton, Ngozzi's music comes from a place that can only be known by having journeyed down to the depths of her own soul and (almost) back again. She describes her music as the wine in her cup that runneth over. It wells up, fills the chalice, and the overflow is then shared poetically and melodically. With each song written, Ngozzi looks to create an emotional connection that draws the listener in and encapsulates their hearts before their minds are able to recognize what has happened. She does this by being extremely open and vulnerable with her lyrics and by allowing the music to exist in its own realm. As a singer and guitar player, her music is sung and played from the soul and each song is an attempt to lay her heart bare, in hopes of release and relationship through her music.
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S.R. BATTERSON
"Wilderness. The word itself is music." S.R Batterson points to this quote by the great outdoors writer Edward Abbey as a kind of compass for his songwriting. But, he also likes to say the reverse is just as true, "Music. The word itself is wilderness." His writing invites you on an expedition into the wild that we must go out to find, as well as that which is inside all of us. His debut EP Firewood Burning — seven tracks recorded partly in nature and partly in the studio — was released on March 1, 2024. Like a river has currents at different depths, each moving at their own intensity, there are deep undercurrent influences behind his music, like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty and Townes Van Zandt. These flow beneath more immediate influences, like Jeffrey Foucault, Josh Ritter, Phosphorescent, Erik Koskinen, Pieta Brown and Caitlin Canty. All flowing together into a stream that's at once timeless and ever changing.
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If you'd like more information or would like to book the show, reach out.