Columbia, SC -- By the time the July 11, 2026, sunset began spilling through the upstairs windows of the Koger Center for the Arts, the inaugural “Girls With Guitars” showcase had already found its glow. Created through a collaboration between community creative advocacy groups Black Nerd Mafia (Kwasi Brown) and AmplifiHer (Kimber Carpenter), the evening brought together Local Honey, YFUA, Kimber Carpenter, Katera, and Tam the Viibe, accompanied by DJ Ent the God on guitar, for a showcase that felt less like a standard concert and more like a room full of stories being passed from one artist to the next.
Held in one of Koger’s upstairs rooms, the inaugural show made the most of its close quarters. Large glass windows let the summer sunset wash the performers and audience in a natural glow, setting a mood that felt warm, communal, and quietly electric. With roughly 100 guests in the room, each artist carried the audience through her own creative evolution, personal history, and musical influences. The performers ranged from self-taught artists to seasoned musicians, but the throughline was clear: every set felt intentional, heartfelt, and met with visible appreciation from the crowd. Local performer and mental health advocate Bobbi Gail emceed the evening, repeatedly returning to the showcase’s larger purpose of building community, supporting women, and uplifting her nonprofit, the S.I.T. Foundation.
Local Honey
Local Honey opened the evening with the kind of quiet confidence that makes a room lean in. After recording her first release on her own during Covid, the literary-minded performer set a reflective, rootsy tone reminiscent of Tracy Chapman. When scheduled performer KTG could not appear after breaking her arm that day, Local Honey folded the absence into the show’s spirit by paying homage to her and covering “Heaven Sent,” a gesture that said as much about the camaraderie in this music community as it did about the song itself.
Setlist:
• Availability (Death Ray Robin)
• Carolina Shag (Inspired by Darby Wilcox)
• Heaven Sent (KTG cover)
• Stars and Numbers (Cayla Fralick cover)
• Thank you Tracy (after Tracy Chapman)
YFUA
Next in the lineup was YFUA, pronounced Y-F-U-A, whose shy, unassuming presence gave way to a set full of lyrical openness. Her songs moved naturally from Local Honey’s reflective tone into stories of relationships, heartbreak, and emotional turbulence. When a minor technical glitch forced her to set aside the guitar and sing a cappella, the audience stepped in with rhythm and encouragement, turning a possible interruption into one of the night’s most communal moments. By the time she closed with “Birds,” a locally familiar song about people who stir up drama, YFUA had transformed vulnerability into momentum.
Setlist:
• Dichotomy
• Folded
• Human Nature/Heaven Sent
• A Thousand Miles
• Birds
Kimber
Kimber Carpenter, AmplifiHer’s organizer and one of the forces behind the event, returned to a solo spotlight she admitted she had not occupied in quite some time. She told the audience she felt uneasy playing without her band, but the first chords of “Unresolved” made that discomfort disappear from the room. Her set reached back across her life, including songs from her teenage years navigating coming out in the Deep South, and showed how sharply she can turn the challenges of womanhood into songs that are thoughtful, catchy, and emotionally precise.
Setlist:
• Unresolved
• 17 Daisies
• 32 Flavors (by Ani Difranco)
• Moon and Stars
• Minimum Wage
Katera
Next up was seasoned performer Katera, who delivered a polished blend of originals and mashups that quickly pulled the audience in. The room responded most visibly during the mashups, singing along as she reworked familiar songs into something personal and new. Her closing song, “DNA,” landed as a letter to her younger self, a reminder that she had gold in her DNA and reason to trust her own gifts. Paired with Prince’s “Kiss,” the closer turned affirmation into celebration, giving the audience both a message to hold onto and a groove to carry out of the set.
Setlist:
• Mashup: Murder She Wrote and The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson
• In Love With the DJ
• Superhero
• Mashup: DNA and Kiss by Prince
Tam the Viibe (accompanied by DJ Ent the God)
Tam the Viibe closed the evening with storytelling rap songs threaded with melodic passages sung in a deep voice touched by blues and gospel. Her style stood apart from the rest of the night, but it fit the room perfectly: direct, magnetic, and grounded in lyrics about growing through life and relationship challenges. With DJ Ent the God joining her on acoustic guitar to honor the showcase’s theme, the set became a striking blend of rhythm, voice, and warm musicianship. It was a fitting finale for an evening built on intimacy, resilience, and the power of women telling their own stories.
Setlist:
• Better Days
• Due Time
• Wasyoname
• BRWNSGALDY (Brown Suga Lady)
By the end of the night, "Girls With Guitars" had become more than a showcase; it felt like a shared exhale, a roomful of listeners and performers meeting each other in the glow of song, story, and support. In its first outing, the event found a clear identity: intimate, heartfelt, and full of the kind of energy that lingers after the last chord fades. With another installment already hinted for the near future, "Girls With Guitars" seems poised to grow into a meaningful fixture in South Carolina’s music community.