Esther Haynes

Jazz vocalist & guitarist

Esther Haynes grew up in Virginia playing folk guitar and bluegrass banjo. At fiddlers’ conventions she played and sang duets, and in Boston she studied voice at Berklee College of Music. In Boston she performed with the bluegrass and swing group Boston City Limits alongside fiddler Matt Glaser. Washington audiences have since heard her as a jazz singer and rhythm guitarist. She has played a long-running engagement at Laporta’s in Alexandria, and the Kensington Historical Society billed her with guitarist Keith Grimes for its 2023 summer concert series. Her debut album paid tribute to singers including Billie Holiday and Memphis Minnie. On her third album, Moon Country, the inspiration was closer to home. She made it in tribute to her Tennessee-born father. The recording features Grimes on guitar and won a 2013 Washington Area Music Award.