Her influences range from jazz to reggae to folk-rock to hip-hop and her sound is described on her website as “Ella Fitzgerald’s clarity, syncopation à la Jason Mraz, and the funky boldness of Stevie Wonder.” You may not have heard of Steph Sloan, but that won’t be the case for long. After growing up in a household heavy on music (and having a musician for a father), Steph participated in music programs like Sun Valley Summer Symphony in the Valley and jazz camps in California, polishing her song-writing abilities until she attended Berklee College of Music to fully follow her dreams of being a musician. So far, her hard work seems to be paying off. Last summer, in what many would call a career-making opportunity, Steph was asked to open for Brandi Carlisle. When asked about the experience of playing with one of her musical idols, Steph says, “It was unreal. I wasn’t expecting it. It happened at the last minute, but it was my first real performance. And I’d grown up going to concerts at River Run my whole life, so it was a dream come true.”
An Idaho gal through-and-through, Steph’s songs are obviously influenced by her time in this Valley. Her song “Idaho Sky” makes mention of “raising PBRs high,” the Big Wood River, and other imagery that not only takes the listener to a night in Idaho but obviously helps Steph to stay connected to the town that has developed her so much as an artist. “The way that people support arts here is so unlike other places. Even when I was terrible and performing, people loved it and encouraged me to keep doing it. It’s really cool to be a part of an artsy community where people are down to hear new, young kids doing their thing.”
She’s certainly not terrible anymore. This year she released her debut album, “Bloom,” which she plans to promote this fall when she goes abroad to France and then to continue developing when she moves to Seattle. “I would love for my music to be everywhere. I went to school and invested a lot of money so I definitely foresee music being my career.”
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