Talented Group of Female Singers, Songwriters Are Dominating the Music Scene on the East End

Over the years, the East End has earned a reputation for having a vibrant live music scene, particularly in the summer months. All kinds of acts have performed in the area over the years — some already famous, or that went on to great fame — and they have performed in a wide range of locations, from the iconic Stephen Talkhouse to the Surf Lodge and more.

In recent years, a contingent of fresh, talented young female singers and songwriters have graced local stages and venues. While they vary in terms of their styles and the type of music they perform, what they have in common is a strong dedication to their art, and a love of performance and the process, and of the energy of the live music scene in the area.

Here’s an inside look at four of those young singers, how they found their way to local stages, and what has inspired them along the way.

Nora Conlon

Nora Conlon describes herself as a shy person, which could be a serious occupational hazard for someone intent on a career as a performer. It’s a trait that has stayed with her from a young age, but, luckily for her, and her fans, it has always disappeared when she steps on stage.

Conlon, 20, has had a love and a knack for singing since she was little, performing a solo at her pre-kindergarten graduation, which is when she says her mother realized she could sing on key.

She started guitar lessons when she was 5, with Paul Chapin, at the now-closed Crossroads Music in Amagansett. When her sixth grade music teacher at the Springs School, Angelina Modica, handed her a ukulele, it was a defining moment. Conlon was drawn to the ease of using the instrument when compared to the guitar.

Before long, with the encouragement of her parents and her grandfather, whom she affectionately calls “Pop Pop,” she was performing at open mic sessions at places like the Springs Tavern, around the corner from her home, and The Clubhouse. By far the youngest to take the stage, she would shed her natural tendency toward shyness and perform, playing songs like “Eden” by Hozier, “The Things We Lost in the Fire” by Bastille, and more.

She’s only ascended since then.

Conlon, a 2022 graduate of East Hampton High School, is now entering her junior year at New York University, where she is part of a small and select program of like-minded students who are soaking up everything they can about performing, making music and setting themselves up for a career in the music industry.

“They try to teach us everything, all facets of the music industry, so that, coming out of school, you’re not just coming out really good at the instrument of your choice, but you really learn about the business,” she said.

Music journalism, producing, engineering, marketing, A&R and more are all part of the program. “So you can come out and be a well-rounded person in the music industry,” she said. “As opposed to just being a musician.”

This summer, “just being a musician” will be the focus for Conlon, and music fans on the East End should consider themselves lucky for that.

She will play at Sunday brunch at Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor throughout the summer, and was also scheduled to perform at the Montauk Yacht Club at the end of June, on the main stage, as well as at the Green Room at the Sag Harbor Cinema. On June 24, she opened for No Sailor at the Stephen Talkhouse.

It was not her first time on stage at the Talkhouse. That happened several years ago, when she was in high school, and Conlon described it as a transformative experience, and a big turning point in her musical journey.

During her freshman year of high school, Conlon went to see the Battle of the Fantasy Girl Bands put on by the activist group Neo-Political Cowgirls, an annual event at the Talkhouse. The experience made her determined to put together a band and enter the competition the following year — which she did, reaching out to bass player Caly Stewart and drummer Dorothea Sax and others. They played a cover of Oasis’s 1990s-era hit “Don’t Look Back in Anger” — and they won.

“It was very reassuring that we won,” Conlon said. “At that point, I was still a lot younger than everyone else, but I didn’t feel like I was just the cute little girl with the ukulele and the nice voice. I was, like, ‘Okay, I’m in a band now and playing at the Talkhouse, and we won.’ It was super special.”

While Conlon has mostly played covers during her gigs, she said she made a breakthrough in terms of her original material over the last year and has started finding success writing her own songs.

As far as describing the style of her music, she cites Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Mitzi, Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief, Hozier and Irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard among her inspirations and influences. She said she’s also grateful to many local musicians for supporting her, including Josh Brussell, Ray Red, Ralphie Perricelli, Lynn Blue, Nancy Atlas and Annie Trezza.

“I became part of the [local music] community at a young age, and they were so supportive,” she said. “It didn’t feel like I was playing to an audience, and more felt like I was playing with a community out here.”

Conlon’s dream, of course, is to become a successful performing musician, expanding beyond the confines of her hometown, writing and performing her own original songs. But she’s not trying to put all her eggs in the same, narrowly defined basket.

“I love playing music and performing, but I also really like songwriting a lot, and I’ve taken an interest in production and engineering,” she said, adding that she’s interning at a recording studio in Manhattan this summer. “It’s making me realize that as uncertain as it is to pursue the life of an artist, I would rather be doing something else in the industry than going back and getting a degree in business.

“I want music to be in my life,” she added. “Regardless of how my artist career works out, I’m still confident I can live a life where I’m pursuing a career in music.”

Lola Lama

For more than a year, Lola Lama was waiting for a sign to start performing live music.

She got it in June of last year, when Yuka Silvera, the lead singer of a group called The Cherry Bombs, reached out to Lama, looking for a lead singer to fill in for the group for an upcoming gig at the Talkhouse. The previous lead singer for the Amagansett- and New York City-based 1980s cover band had moved away, and they needed someone to fill in — and fast.

The idea of performing, generally speaking, was not new to Lama. During her time as a student at Pierson High School, and as a senior at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, she had thrown herself into musical theater and acting in plays with gusto, and went on to NYU, where she pursued a major in drama, graduating this past May. But singing live music, in a band, for a crowd was something new that she was eager to explore.

She ended up being a perfect fit. She was invited to become the new lead singer after an informal audition at the apartment of Cherry Bombs member Nika Nesgoda, where she sang “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” and its been a great partnership ever since.

“I was very nervous,” Lama said, with a laugh, remembering that day. “But it turned out to be one of the best opportunities ever to come my way.”

The Cherry Bombs are, simply put, a whole lot of fun. They throw themselves into the era of their music with gusto, dressing the part, with combat boots, leather and flashy makeup.

Lama loves it.

“The Cherry Bombs made me so versatile in a way that I didn’t feel before,” she said.

Lama has always had a passion for dressing the part, thanks to her love of performance and musical theater, but her signature look has had more of a vintage, 1950s or 1960s kind of vibe; think “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” but on a 20-something redhead.

With the Cherry Bombs, Lama has expanded her idea of what she can do, both from a performance and from an aesthetic standpoint.

“I realized I can do whatever decade I want now,” she said.

Lama will perform with the Cherry Bombs for part of the summer, but is also spending a good chunk of the summer season studying abroad in Amsterdam with an experimental theater wing.

With her college degree in hand and the future ahead of her, Lama is enthusiastic about the next few years, and expanding her penchant for singing and performance into a variety of different avenues.

“My goal is to keep performing live music out east,” she said. “I think it’s so special. With the Cherry Bombs, we’ve really gained a fan base, and every time we perform together, our show gets better.”

Lama said that theater is still her primary passion, and she has Broadway dreams. She has been auditioning for off-Broadway shows and went on her first Broadway audition last month.

“It was so magical,” she said of that experience. “To be, like, ‘Wow, I can do this — it’s not impossible.’”

Lama and the Cherry Bombs will perform in July, and after her time spent overseas, she’ll be back with the band for the last two weeks in August, with shows at the Talkhouse and at East Hampton Main Beach, as well as in Sag Harbor at the Green Room, and also at Kidd Squid Brewery.

Lama said she’s busy, but happy.

“I’m so grateful I’ll still get to perform,” she said.

Lina Maxine

Lina Maxine, the lead singer of her eponymous band, has been around the world. She was born in Los Angeles, and more recently was living in London, and has experience performing with a band in Europe as well.

But Maxine, 27, and her partner, Dean Aladay, decided to settle in the relatively low-key location of Amagansett for a simple reason.

“We went where there was live music happening,” she said in a recent interview when asked what prompted them to settle on the far eastern end of Long Island.

While some musicians in the area focus exclusively on playing covers, and some do a mix of both, Lina Maxine and her band focus almost exclusively on writing and performing their own original songs.

“Both Dean and I are songwriters,” she said, adding that he has more experience in that regard, but that they are like-minded. “We have lots to say in terms of putting our minds together into a song. It’s a cool dialogue and creative process.”

When they have live gigs in the area, there is the occasional cover — Amy Winehouse is a favorite, Maxine said — but they mainly focus on what they can create together. They’ve been “writing and experimenting together,” Maxine said, for the past two years, and have already released an EP, “You’re My Only Friend.”

Maxine attempted to describe the band’s style and sound.

“It’s a difficult question, because we entered the industry at a time when it’s changing so much,” she said. “A few years ago, there was so much segmentation in the style of music, and so much specificity through the algorithm. More recently, out here, there isn’t such a thing as a style or genre. The vibe, or mood, as we’re continuing to build our original sound, is like original rock, pop rock or glam rock.”

American and progressive rock influences, as well as indie rock influences, are in there as well.

“With our full band, we definitely sound quite big,” Maxine said. “We have a cool alternative metal bass player in the band, and our drummer has an Indian tabla, which is this percussive instrument from Indian culture. We go through different types of dynamics to keep it interesting.”

Lina Maxine will perform at the Talkhouse in September, which Maxine said will be a big moment for them. They also learned in early June that they had made it to the semifinals of a round of competition to perform at the Great South Bay music festival.

Until then, they will continue to take advantage of the live music performance opportunities the area offers, with gigs lined up throughout the summer at locations from Montauk to Southampton, and everywhere in between.

Reilly Rose

For Reilly Rose, singing, making music and performing is, at its core, all about playfulness and exploration.

The 22-year-old just graduated from NYU’s Gallatin School, with a concentration in the aesthetics of storytelling, several years after graduating from Pierson High School.

From the time she was a small child, Rose said she was drawn to music and performing. She started playing the piano at a young age and had a lot of time to herself — she was an only child up until the age of 12, after which point five younger brothers came along.

During her time at Pierson, Rose said that the musical theater department “was my whole world,” and she expanded beyond the school stage as well, as part of productions at Guild Hall in East Hampton and Bay Street in Sag Harbor.

“There’s really nothing quite like the creative process and the feeling of working hard and making something new,” Rose said.

Rose is currently living in New York City, but still spends plenty of time in and around her hometown, performing at gigs in both areas. “The Hamptons is such an awesome place for live music and collaborating with other artists,” she said.

Rose is versatile. In addition to booking singing gigs and playing the piano, she is also part of a musical comedy group. Asked for a comparison when it comes to her music, she said Regina Spektor has been a big inspiration. “She’s a classic ‘girl and her piano’ setup,” she said. “I always have to come back to that.”

The common thread for Rose, no matter what creative medium she’s engaged in, is the importance of storytelling.

“At its core, I think storytelling is essential to human nature and the human need for community and empathy,” she said.

She said that creating original music has always been her “shelter,” and that process of writing and creating is, for her, a form of self-care.

“I consider myself, as a person, a big question-asker,” she said. “That’s been a theme throughout my life. For my music, it’s always a lot of question-asking, whether or not it’s phrased as questions, or just looking at the world and patterns in life and the way things happen in relationships and interrogating them.”

While a lot of her live performances have been lyrically based outings, with just her and her piano, Rose said she’s been collaborating with more local artists, and it’s been great, breathing new life into her music.

She has an upcoming performance with Conlon at the Talkhouse that she said she’s excited about.

“Something so amazing about being out east is that there are all these other women and people, and it’s so cool to see them out there doing their work,” she said. “It’s so fun.”

Rose is currently working on recording music. She has a live album from a show in the city that’s available on Spotify and Apple Music, and she is hoping to put out a “proper EP” and a few singles.

But that won’t be her sole focus.

“I think live performance is probably something I can never get enough of,” she said. “There’s all sorts of benchmark dreams of places I’d love to perform. I’m excited for the Talkhouse, Surf Lodge would be cool, and there’s a lot of great music festivals. I’d love to make it on Sirius XM on Coffeehouse — that’s definitely a benchmark for me.

“I hope to just keep writing music and be more and more playful,” she added. “And keep finding a blend of playfulness and joy, but also thoughtfulness about what’s going on in the world.”