Artist of the day: Sheila Kirsten Hughes Band
How’s this for an unconventional breakthrough: In October, Tampa folkie Sheila Kirsten Hughes, 32, of Land O’Lakes, starred in YouTube’s featured video of the day ... in Australia and New Zealand. The clip was a lovely solo cover of Modern Life, a ballad by Australian singer Doug Payne, and so far it’s racked up more than 20,000 hits.
Hughes (whose band includes her husband, Chris Hughes, and multi-instrumentalist Alex Wolfe Parnes) says her YouTube channel has helped her gain fans all over the world.
"A lot of folks on YouTube have been asking for some of my newer songs that haven’t been recorded yet on CD,” she said, including a Celtic cover of Scarborough Fair.
Click here to listen to an mp3 of Hughes' Not Givin' Up. And here's the Modern Life video that brougth Hughes fame from around the globe:
Our 2008 Ultimate Music Guide featured the 10 best local bands, 130 more artists that we love, a SXSW photo gallery by Giddy Up Helicopter and more. 
In 2007, we profiled nearly 100 of the Bay Area's best music acts. See who was hot back then. Chances are, you're still rocking out to them today! 
Great news. Glad to see you getting back to work after laying back for the past few months. Looking forward to a new, original song from you to add to Music Tampa Bay. Rick
Posted by: Rick | April 15, 2009 at 07:50 PM