Riley Cotton is a Connecticut-based singer/songwriter.  Throughout her coming of age and artistic expression, she struggled with a pulling duality of her queer feminine identity and fondness of her southern roots. While growing up in Texas, much of her musical taste was shaped by the voices of the women of country music; Shania Twain, Sarah Evans, Dolly Parton, the Dixie Chicks. These women so boldly embraced the power of their belt and divine femininity in the face of an industry that did not embrace them, and Riley was inspired. She continued to sing their songs through her childhood and teenage years, always finding comfort in the sounds of pedal steel, acoustic guitar, and rich vocal harmonies. While writing her own music, Riley aspires to share her experiences taking a stance on the issues that compel her, all the while utilizing the masterful story telling mechanisms so prevalent in the music she grew up on.