BIO

Kentucky Soul is the vision of musician Yani Vozos accompanied by various artists to create musical medicine that inspires love and longing; bringing people together to dance and celebrate life. 

Yani Vozos is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin, charango, and sitar) from Kentucky.   He performs original music in many styles ranging from acoustic latin- folk -rock rhythms to funky jazz grooves to traditional old- time folk and bluegrass.  His music is upbeat with writing that focuses on positivity and universal spiritual connections with the earth that everyone can relate to.  Yani writes music directly from his heart with the intention of sending out vibrations of love and joy to inspire people around the world.

Musical Adventure

Yani’s musical adventure began in the south- rural Eastern Kentucky mountains. He grew up there running through the creeks and trees going to square-dances and listening to his parent’s records of country, motown, blues, latin, and country. When he was 15 years old he fell in love with the guitar and played lots of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Hank Williams Jr., James Brown, Metallica, Santana, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Allman Bros songs, practicing 6 hours a day as a teenager.  Moved  to the north for college and discovered world and jazz music during his time living in Pittsburgh and NYC.  As a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, Central America Yani fell in love with Latin music playing cumbias, salsa, reggae and samba.  After he returned home to Kentucky in 2003 and dug into the Kentucky folk and Bluegrass music of Bill Monroe on mandolin.  Now after all of these years, the music he plays is an amalgam of all of these styles infused with a little bit of love and lots of inspiration.

Collaborations

Appalatin

Yani is the frontman for Appalatin whose sound blends folk music from Kentucky with folk music from Latin America, creating fun, high energy original music with lyrics in Spanish and English.  The members of the band hail from Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Eastern Kentucky.

Appalatin has released three full length albums since 2011 and they have numerous awards including the 2019 Best Latin Artist from the Latin Music Awards of Kentucky and the 2014 Best Americana Band from the Louisville Music Awards.

Check out videos and music on the website appalatin.com

 

CornMaiz

Yani plays mandolin and guitar and sings in the nouveau old-time band CornMaiz.

CornMaiz plays traditional Kentucky music from Appalachia, original music written by its members and an eclectic mix of cover tunes played in a very unique way. They have played at festivals in the US and Mexico and are scheduled to play in England,  Ireland, and Serbia.  Check out their music on the CornMaiz website here.

Cornbread and Tortillas

Yani  Assistant Director and performer of the Cornbread & Tortillas Folk Opera.  Cornbread &Tortillas is a collaboration of Kentucky artists from Appalachia and Latin America that features traditional music, dance and original storytelling written by the performers. The project seeks to highlight cultural connections between Kentucky and Latin America, through performances and workshops, and to create community through music, culture, and food.  Check out videos of the performance on the website here.