Throughout downtown Kent, several popular bars and venues have live music to help draw in the community. With so many places to go, downtown has become a big attractor for those who choose to go to Kent State.

Riley Burke, a Kent State University student who will be graduating in the fall of 2023, takes advantage of all the local venues to play her music for those who explore downtown and beyond.

“I’ve always been interested in music,” Burke said. “From my childhood, I played piano, [and] took piano lessons from when I was three years old. Started doing theater in middle school. And then I fell in love with singing.”

After being interested in music for most of her life, one of Burke’s earliest memories of her love of music and performing came from doing a production of Annie where Burke would play the lead.

However, it would be her love of musical theatre and her ideas of pursuing theatre in college that led Burke to songwriting. Burke auditioned for Kent State’s Musical Theatre program but was denied.

“When I didn’t get into Kent’s program, I kind of had a career crisis a little bit and I ended up feeling like it wasn’t so much for me anymore,” Burke said. “I remember when I wrote my first song, […] I felt like, ‘Wow, this is how I can show through me in a really truthful, vulnerable way.’”

Burke is majoring in speech pathology and audiology and has a minor in vocal performance. She said the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown helped her begin to write her own songs she would later go on to perform.

“COVID hit in my senior year of high school,” Burke said. “And for the first time in a while, I really had nothing to do. And I always wanted to try songwriting. […] So I had a lot of feelings and a lot of time and I said, I’m going to write a song.”

The pandemic also allowed Burke the time to hone her skills and songwriting ability.

“I am lucky that a lot of the bulk of the time I spent writing was when there weren’t really opportunities to do shows because everything was shut down because of COVID,” Burke said. “So I really had a lot of time to work on getting my writing style perfected and my process of figuring out how to write a technically good and impactful song.”

One of the first venues Burke ever played was The Wickyards in Youngstown, Ohio. The former funeral home turned live performance venue is owned by one of Burke’s friends.

The Wickyards was the first venue where Burke and her band would perform live.

“[The owner of The Wickyards] was doing a show for their 10th anniversary and he asked me if I’d be interested in playing,” Burke said. “And then my sister played the drums and my friend played bass and was like ‘Hey, you guys want to do this?’ We did like five songs. And that was the first time I ever played original music out. ”

Along with performing at several different venues with her band, from Kent, Ohio to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Burke has also been releasing her original music digitally. Her first single entitled “MTV” came out on September 30, 2022.

The song was recorded this past summer at Court Street Recording in Canfield, Ohio. Michael Estok, a producer at Court Street, laid all the instruments and mixed the single for Burke and Dan Millice mastered the song. Leanne Binder, one of Burke’s voice teachers, also helped her and introduced her to those who would help create the song for release.

“It’s a breakup song,” Burke said. “The whole concept behind it, honestly, ended up just the hook ended up being: ‘I’m lying on the beach while you’re watching MTV,’ just because it kind of rhymed. But the whole thought behind it is ‘I’m in a better place than you.’”

Throughout her time writing songs and performing for so many new faces, Burke has found that one of her favorite aspects has been meeting all sorts of new people and making new connections at each show she plays.

By growing her band and playing with new singers and their bands, Burke has been able to make several great connections as she performs.

“I just really love meeting people who just like to jam ideas,” Burke said. “People are just so sweet in his community. […] I just have the time of my life on stage just jamming and it feels really good to me.”

Burke said she plans to release new music soon. Those who want to see Burke perform can see her and her band live at the Burnt Pickle, Saturday, Feb. 11 joined by Wrinkled Beige Linen, Cherry Yachtsman, Alex Jackson and Nafan.

Burke will also perform at the Outpost on April 14, joined by Cherry Yatchsman, Olivia and the Bells and Lovers in Reverse.

“The whole thing has been great so far and I will I’ll never stop playing shows even though I’m a full-time student and I’m busy as hell. I’ll never stop taking time to do music and to perform,” she said.

Lex Ogilvie is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].