Amy Abts

A native Minnesotan from Rochester, Amy Abts has been performing since the age of 7. She is a musician, artist, writer, and actor who first began performing her own pieces of music while studying acting in Duluth. During this time she had the chance to perform on Duluths live pirate radio station "Random Radio." She then recorded demos in a Duluth hillside basement "shaky Ray Records" She was the first performer ever at Duluth's Homegrown Music Festival, she is the definition of a homegrown musical artist. She since has graduated with a BFA in acting and her focus shifted to writing and performing music full time. Her first recorded album was released in 1999, she continued recording and eventually self-released a 21 track album. Afterwards she formed the State Champs which continued to perform as well as record for about 5 years. Amy has performed with other prolific homegrown artists such as Charlie Parr, Trampled by Turtles, Haley Bonar, Low, The Black Eyed Snakes, the Keep Aways, Both and many others. Around 2006 Amy began suffering from medical issues. She was diagnosed with degenerative cranial nerve disorder. Since then she has battled this illness while still making music. The album Fifty-Fifty was released in February of 2018 and is a collection of writings about her medical journey.