Kimaya Diggs is a musician and writer living in Western Massachusetts. Her work is deeply inspired by the landscape and natural cycles of the Pioneer Valley as well as her experience as a member of the Black and desi diaspora.
Recently off tour dates with Mavis Staples, Emily King, Trombone Shorty, and more, Kimaya Diggs navigates her world with stories. Her work has earned her a Callaloo Fellowship in poetry (2017), a New England Music Awards nod, and a co-headlining spot at the Emily Dickinson Museum's Tell It Slant Poetry Festival alongside former U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon. She has also appeared at legendary venues including Club Passim, Northampton's Iron Horse, and Green River Festival.
Born and raised in Western Massachusetts, Diggs grew up playing piano and cello, and sang in a trio with her siblings, the Diggs Sisters. After touring internationally with polyphonic singing group Northern Harmony, Diggs left Massachusetts to study opera in Philadelphia. When she moved home in 2015, she began performing her own songs on guitar, falling in with a diverse crew of musicians and releasing self-produced albums including Breastfed (2018), One More Holiday (2021), Quincy (2023), and her upcoming LP Green (October 2026), which will be released in conjunction with a short film consisting of 14 music videos created in tandem with local artists.
Kimaya's unique brand of folk-infused songwriting is heavily anchored by the lineage of Black soul and R&B: whispers of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and Minnie Riperton are heard throughout, an important callback to the music Diggs’ parents played for her growing up, and the music closest to her heart.
