Local Spins interviews the northern Michigan singer-songwriter as well as bluegrass powerhouse Billy Strings for this week’s radio show podcast, while also debuting new music from regional artists.
Playing Wheatland and Leelanau Uncaged: i.am.james., aka Sierra Cassidy, who also plans release of a new album in 2027. (Courtesy Photo)
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From the first time that Sierra Cassidy joined Josh Rose and his band at Wheatland Music Festival in 2023, she realized there’s “something really good here.”
That brief stint, which included bringing her six-week-old infant to the festival, was followed by a performance of her own on Wheatland’s Schafer Song stage the next year — completely transforming her as a Wheatland devotee.
“It was like the class-that-never-was reunion for me the first year that I camped there,” the Leelanau County singer and guitarist. “It was all good friends, all songwriters. It was really fun. And something I will say, too, that really impressed me as being a new parent was just the sheer size of Wheatland, but the way I experienced it bringing my child there and continue to bring my child with me is just a really serene feeling for how many people are there.
‘Just Fantastic’: Wheatland returns to Remus later this month. (Photo/Holly Holtzclaw)
“It’s … very peaceful. So I felt really safe about that and yeah, it was just fantastic.”
Performing as i.am.james, Cassidy returns to Wheatland to perform with a full band at 1 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 13), as well as joining songwriters Josh Rose and Kyle Joe on the Schafer Song Stage at 3:40 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 12).
“I’m super excited to be at Wheatland this year,” she conceded. “It should be really fun.”
As always, the granddaddy of Michigan folk and roots festivals taking place Sept. 11-13 boasts an impressive lineup of international stars (The Steel Wheels, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Las Cafeteras, Mary Gautier) and regional favorites (Red Thyme, Elizabeth Landry, Aspen Jacobsen, Mark Lavengood Band, Sweet Dee & The Wild Honeys, Silver Creek Revival, Molly). Tickets, $140 adults, available online here; scroll down to view the complete schedule.
After a busy summer of performing, Cassiday also has new music in the offing, with plans to release a 2027 follow-up to i.am.james’ 2025 album “The Garden.”
“I really had a story that I felt like I needed to share and wanted to share (on ‘The Garden’), and that aligned with the process of putting my debut album out into the world. So sonically, the album leans a bit more singer-songwriter than I’d say the next project that I’ll be putting out,” she said, noting her sound has “shifted significantly” over the past decade or so.
“I have been fortunate enough to experience a very fun but calm stage of life right now. And I think that my songwriting is changing because of that, which has been really cool to experience. So the next project that we’ll be putting out will be a bigger sound. It’ll be fun, borderline goofy at times, I would say. I’m just a bit more carefree. I’m really excited for that shift, and I think the contrast between albums will be cool.”
VIDEO: i.am.james., “Take Me With You” (Live at Sleeping Bear Surf)
‘TWO SIDES OF A COIN’ & NEW MUSIC AHEAD
For this week’s edition of the Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase, Cassidy shared “Red-Handed” from “The Garden” as well as a new song, “Big Man,” that was recorded live at Sleeping Bear Surf in Empire. Scroll down to listen to the interview and the full radio show.
Growing up north of Traverse City, Cassidy was heavily involved in theater and choir, acquiring a guitar from her stepfather at age 16. “The guitar quickly became a vehicle for me to get these songs out that were trapped in my head,” she conceded, adding that receiving a Blissfest scholarship to attend Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters in Harbor Springs further solidified her love of songwriting. She eventual spent her final year of high school in the Interlochen Arts Academy’s singer-songwriter program.
“I was exposed to what feels like two sides of a coin. On one side, there was a lot of Grateful Dead, Paul Simon, Lucinda Williams and Jackson Browne. The other half was perhaps a bit more unexpected, artists like Jamiroquai, Sublime and Earth, Wind & Fire,” she said.
The Band: i.am.james. (Courtesy Photo)
“As an artist, I find myself drawing inspiration from some of the greats like Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, The Beatles and Steely Dan. Newer artists that feel especially inspiring to me include Bonnie Light Horseman, Big Thief and Adrianne Lenker, Margo Price and Beck.”
As for her monikers, she often performs as Sierra Cassidy at smaller solo shows or songwriter showcases, with i.am.james serving as “the true name of my project and my band” — starting about 10 years ago. “I actually set out to be just ‘James,’ but a digital wire got crossed during the release of my very first single and landed my song on the artist profile of ’80s English rock band James on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. Having already promoted the name James, in a rather hasty decision, I changed my artist name to i.am.james. It just stuck.”
Cassidy follows up her i.am.james performance at Wheatland with a full-band appearance at another popular northern Michigan event — Leelanau Uncaged in Northport on Sept. 26, a festival featuring more than 30 acts playing seven stages.
“I am cooking up recording plans as we speak. Expect fun, danceable, big sound from us in 2027,” she insisted, noting that the band recently released a live video of one her songs recorded in Empire (view it above), with versions of a couple of those live songs hitting streaming services in coming weeks.
In addition to i.am.james, this week’s edition of the Michigan Music Showcase features an interview with Billy Strings, who recently hosted his mammoth Ionia Freak Fair at the Ionia County Fairgrounds the same weekend that he released his new studio album, “So Much For Goodbyes,” dedicated to his mother. The radio show features a Michigan-inspired track from that new Billy Strings album, along with songs by several other Great Lakes State artists: Odd Space, Conway, Stanley & Quiggle, Sweet Dee & The Wild Honeys, Roosevelt Diggs, Josh Garvelink and Greg Nagy. Listen to the full radio show podcast below.
The Michigan Music Showcase airs at 11 a.m. Fridays and 5 p.m. Sundays on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org, and on Interlochen Public Radio at 7 p.m. Saturdays. Check out previous show podcasts online here.
PODCAST: Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase (9/4/26)
WHEATLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL 2026: THE SCHEDULE
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