Yasmin Williams 

Yasmin Williams is an acoustic fingerstyle guitarist with an unorthodox, modern style of playing. She utilizes various techniques including alternate tunings, percussive hits, and lap tapping techniques in her music to great effect. She has won various local talent shows, was a finalist in the Rolling Stones Young Gun guitar competition, was the Grand Prize winner of New York University's Ultra Violet Live talent show, and was the Grand Champion of Culpeper Has Talent. She grew up in northern Virginia where various genres of music from smooth jazz to hip-hop were played in her household. She was introduced to the guitar after playing the video game Guitar Hero in 2009. She begged her parents to buy her a real electric guitar and once she received her first guitar and amplifier, she taught herself how to play the guitar by ear. After a few years of playing the electric guitar, she taught herself how to play the bass guitar, 12 string guitar, and classical guitar and eventually decided to switch her focus to the acoustic guitar because she discovered the music of other spectacular acoustic guitarists. Her sophomore album, Urban Driftwood, is out now and has received praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR, The Guardian, the Washington Post, and more.