Gina celebrated her new EP with a release show in Austin on Saturday, Sept. 15 at Antone’s featuring Carrie Rodriguez and Jane Ellen Bryant. The concert celebrated the first four college graduates of Niñas Arriba, a college fund that Chavez co-founded for young Latinas in a gang-dominated suburb of San Salvador, El Salvador. For more information on Gina Chavez, please see here.For more information on Niñas Arriba, see here.

The new record holds a very special place in Chavez’s heart as it delves deeply into her personal relationship with her wife, Jodi Granado, and the journey and hardships they’ve undergone to be able to publicly express their love for each other. Chavez beautifully conveys her and Granado’s story through five unapologetic tracks that touch on longing, endurance of one’s faith, beauty and sacrifice. It is a record that also tells a bigger story about how love can extend beyond the boundaries of gender, religion, race and geography in an effort to lift people up and allow them to embrace themselves for who they are and live out loud.

The first single from the EP, “Heaven Knows,” was premiered by NPR on Feb. 14 just in time for Valentine’s Day, and was written as a tribute to Chavez’s wife, Jodi. The single can be streamed via Spotify, Apple Music and purchased via iTunes. The music video for “Heaven Knows” premiered on Billboard on July 13. The second single and title track from the EP, “Lightbeam,” was premiered as KUTX Song of the Day on Aug. 14.

Chavez’s new EP is a “slow-burn soul and uptempo R&B” (NPR) love letter to her wife and long-time partner, Jodi. The two met at the University Catholic Center at the University of Texas at Austin where they quickly fell in love. The next 12 years would force the couple to balance their families’ Catholic beliefs with their own faith and love for each other. After navigating a long-distance relationship in the United States, hiding their love while volunteering with nuns in El Salvador, and coming out to friends and family, the couple finally married in 2017 at Tiny T Ranch near Austin, two years after marriage equality became legal in Texas.

“‘Lightbeam’ was born from a life with the woman I love,” Gina Chavez said. “But really, it’s a love letter to all those who fall into that beautiful gray area between black and white. To those who feel the need to slink into the shadows and hide who they are. ‘Lightbeam’ is about living our true selves right now. Because we are all beautiful just the way we are.”

“Lightbeam” was recorded by Dwight Baker in October 2017, in just eight days, at Matchbox Studios in Austin, Texas. The EP features Dave Boyle on the keys, Conrad Choucroun on the drums and Steve Terebecki on the bass.

“LIGHTBEAM” TRACKLIST IS AS FOLLOWS:

Upcoming tour dates and performances:

Nov. 9 – Coughlin-Saunders PAC – Alexandria, La. – Tickets

Nov. 10 – University of Houston – Houston, Texas – Tickets

Nov. 13 – University of Arkansas – Fayetteville, Ark. – Tickets

Nov. 16 – Texas Tech University – Lubbock, Texas – Tickets

Dec. 14 – Armadillo Christmas Bazaar – Austin, Texas – Tickets

Jan. 19 – Pepsico Theater – Purchase, N.Y. – Tickets

Jan. 31 – Lensic Performing Arts Center – Santa Fe, N.M. – Tickets

Feb. 9 – LuCille Tack Center for the Arts – Spencer, Wis. – Tickets

Feb. 10 – Woodstock Opera House – Woodstock, Ill.

Feb. 21 – Ball State University – Muncie, Ind. – Tickets

Feb. 23 – Happy Days Lodge – Boston, Ohio

Feb. 28 – California Center for the Arts – Escondido, Calif. – Tickets

About Gina Chavez:

Multi-ethnic, Latin pop songstress and Austin based musician Gina Chavez never thought she’d see the day when two women could marry in Texas. Then again, she never thought she would marry a woman. “Heaven Knows,” a track “steeped in slow-burn soul and uptempo R&B,” is the first single off her upcoming five-song EP “Lightbeam.” The EP chronicles the musical journey of 12 years in love, a love Chavez never thought she would experience. “Lightbeam” is a sonic departure for Chavez who is known for her signature style of bilingual Latin folk-pop. Following a feature on NPR’s All Things Considered and her Tiny Desk that has had more than 600,000 views, Chavez topped the iTunes and Amazon Latin charts with her 2014 award-winning album “Up.Rooted.” Chavez’s passionate collection of bilingual songs took audiences on a journey through the Americas, blending the sounds and rhythms of the region with tension and grace. Her Spanish-language anthem, “Siete-D” (winner, John Lennon Songwriting Contest) recounts her experience volunteering in a gang-dominated suburb of San Salvador where she co-founded Niñas Arriba, a college fund for young Latinas. For her latest record, the nine-time Austin Music Award winner and 2015 Austin Musician of the Year traded her acoustic guitar for the smooth tones of a Gibson hollow body, and called upon producer Dwight A. Baker (MISSIO, Alpha Rev, The Wind and The Wave, Josh Abbott Band) to lay down five soulful and diverse songs, that expand upon her previous work with same lively and sophisticated spirit that her fans have grown to love. Having drawn inspiration from the contemporary rhythm and blues vibes of Leon Bridges, the punchy guitar work of Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and the rhythmic vocals in the latest pop and rap music, “Lightbeam” boasts intensely personal lyrics – “heaven knows our souls, our story / the shape of your heart when you hold me / wouldn’t tear us apart or disown me” – strong melodic hooks and a pop aesthetic that showcase Chavez’s versatility as an artist. Fresh off a 12-country tour as an ambassador with the U.S. State Department, Gina recorded the new EP in October 2017, in just eight days at Matchbox Studios in Austin, Texas. The EP features some of Austin’s finest – Dave Boyle (keys), Conrad Choucroun (drums), and Steve Terebecki (bass) – on five unapologetically personal tracks that explore longing, faith, beauty and sacrifice. With 10 Austin Music Awards, an NPR Tiny Desk with more than half a million views, frequent tours as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department, being named an official 2018 SXSW artist for the fifth year in a row with her six-piece band and a trip to Kyrgyzstan in April 2018, Chavez and her wife, Jodi, embarked on a European mini-tour that kicked off the couple’s honeymoon and the release of “Lightbeam.” For more information on Gina Chavez, please see www.ginachavez.com.

About Niñas Arriba:

Niñas Arriba means “Girls Rising.” In 2009, Gina Chavez and Jodi Granado were teaching English in El Salvador at the Maria Auxiliadora School, a Catholic institution that aims to educate the “poorest of the poor.” One day, they asked their senior class who wanted to go to college. Every hand shot up. Then they asked who was planning to attend college. Every hand dropped. Even for eager students, prospects in El Salvador are bleak. Niñas Arriba aims to rectify this situation bit by bit – girl by girl. Contributions directly fund a private college education for young women in a gang-dominated suburb in El Salvador. The fund currently supports full scholarships (tuition, academic fees and supplies, food and transportation) for four students and paid internships for college graduates. All donations are accepted through Niña Arriba’s fiscal sponsor, Stone Room Concerts, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, visit www.ninasarriba.wordpress.com.

###

MEDIA NOTE:

For general press inquiries, please contact the team at Juice Consulting:

Heather Wagner Reed

713 208 3891

Madison Snelling

210 213 8934