Spotlight On: SHANA CLEVELAND OF LA LUZ

ABOUT this week’s podcast guest + radio hour featured interview:

I’m a longtime fan of this week’s guest, and all of her projects - the guitarist, singer, songwriter, and La Luz bandleader, Shana Cleveland. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Shana cut her teeth in Chicago before heading to the Pacific Northwest which is where she would form the psychedelic surf-rock band, La Luz, a decade ago as their lead guitarist and songwriter. Meanwhile, Shana also was fronting a folkier band called The Sandcastles, as a vehicle for her other passion - acoustic fingerpicking. A couple years after releasing La Luz’s 2013 full length debut, It’s Alive, Shana put out her solo debut as Shana Cleveland and The Sandcastles, Oh Man, Cover the Ground, followed by 2019’s Night of the Worm Moon, under her own name. La luz has since put out three more albums - most recently their critically hailed 2021 self titled album. However, in January 2022 Shana was diagnosed with breast cancer and their tour was cut short. Last year, Shana joined us here on SHEROES to talk about her third solo album called Manzanita. It turns out that we didn’t need to wait long for more. La Luz is back with their fifth full length album called News of the Universe, which is the first La Luz album following Shana’s breast cancer diagnosis and birth of her son. It also marks the first La Luz album made entirely by women - from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. And while we know that change is often hard, News of the Universe proves that it usually brings about an exciting new chapter. I’m so happy to welcome back Shana Cleveland of La Luz as this week’s SHERO in the Spotlight.