THE HOT MAMAS

As a lifelong professional performer, Mallory McKendry has sung on stages around the world. She returned to her Shenandoah Valley home after a twenty-year career as a military vocalist. Performing opera with Hawaii Opera Theatre, busking in New Orleans, and artists like The Bird Man of Rome, Ella Fitzgerald, and Janis Joplin influenced her jazzy songwriting style and powerhouse vocal sound. Playing jug bass, four-string banjo, foot percussion and kazoo, Mallory loves to add a dash of quirk and whimsy to even the most serious of subjects. Her exceptional up-beat tunes like “Sad Songs,” “Ride This Train,” and “Have a Good Time” are currently taking the Valley by storm. She has waited her entire life to be in an all-girl, original band and could not be happier to be part of The Hot Mamas.

Maria Leckey’s pop/folk inspired songwriting is firing up her home in the Shenandoah Valley. Drawing on the influences of Carole King, Taylor Swift, and Peter, Paul, and Mary, Maria’s songs of love and loss are enough to make any ex-lover run for the hills. A performer from a young age, Maria started her musical escapades as a pickpocket in Lincoln Memorial University’s “Oliver!” at the age of 5. When she picked up the accordion, Maria began performing 80’s covers at The Little Grill Collective in Harrisonburg to a mix of awe and chagrin. Now with a Theatre and English degree in her pocket, Maria brings a special sparkle to the Hot Mamas with her charming persona, poetic lyrics, and fabulous sense of fashion.

Jess Young is an acoustic multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter from Harrisonburg, VA. She brings a background in theatre, poetry and short-story writing and publishing to The Hot Mamas. Her improvisational musicianship stems from symphonic and marching band clarinet, stealing her older brother’s guitar Christmas 2007, the inheritance of her late grandmother, Jackie Brantley’s, string instrument collection, and experiments with other local artists. Her inspiration runs across the board, musically, but a few of her muses include Feist, Regina Spektor, Sierra Ferrell and Orville Peck. Jess has played in multiple bands in various contexts in the Shenandoah Valley, from ukulele duo Deb & Jess to the grunge rock Companion Cubes, cover bands, Rock Lotto (just ask), and other harmonious jaunts.

Casey Rolfe is a Hampton Roads sweet potato who plays the washboard, Irish bodhrán (or bod-d-r-rin if you’re Mallory), and the ukulele for The Hot Mamas. Her background in classical percussion, jazz theory, and arranging may single her out as a huge nerd, but it has become the backbone of collaborative songwriting in this all-female mixed-genre project. Casey can transpose music into any key and works with all kinds of noisemakers. Her songwriting abilities continue to produce excellent indie and Appalachian tunes, the likes of which can bring a tear to the eyes of the toughest. Inspired by Death Cab for Cutie, John Prine, and Guy Clark, Casey hones in on the raw and honest. Self-classified as the meanest member of The Hot Mamas, she is easily mollified with a piece of cheese.