"She takes day-to-day experiences and turns them into raw poetry."
Blues Blast Magazine
Grammy-nominated vocalist and songwriter carrying the Memphis blues forward with grace, fire, and a voice that commands every room it enters.
Who She Is
Tierinii Jackson Naftaly is a vocalist and songwriter who knows when to pull back and when to let it go — and the moment she lets it go, you feel it in your chest. A two-time Grammy nominee and Blues Music Award winner, she has brought that voice to Farm Aid, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and festival main stages across four continents. The blues has always had powerhouse vocalists. Rarely has one arrived carrying this much evidence of the lineage.
Frontwoman of Southern Avenue on Alligator Records · Featured vocalist on the Sinners original motion picture soundtrack · Collaborator on Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience, Decca Records
Sinners found her because she already lived inside that story — the pull between where you came from and where the music wants to take you. Working alongside Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, her performance is lived-in, honest, and entirely authentic to the Delta.
Soundtrack / Cinema / Southern Blues
In Her Own Words
"Every room I walk into, I'm trying to leave it different than I found it."
— Tierinii Jackson Naftaly
Memphis gave her the roots. The road gave her the range. The music is where she gets to decide what to do with both.
Watch
The cleanest way to understand Tierinii is the oldest way: turn it up and watch what happens when a singer stops asking for space and starts taking it.
More Videos"She takes day-to-day experiences and turns them into raw poetry."
Blues Blast Magazine
"A dynamic, high-energy vocal force on stage."
American Blues Scene
"Commanding vocals anchoring everything in place."
No Depression
"A beautifully distinctive, velveteen voice."
The Rocking Magpie
2× Grammy-Nominated / Alligator Records / Modern Roots
Southern Avenue
Southern Avenue is the vehicle for Tierinii's original songwriting, built alongside guitarist Ori Naftaly and her sisters T.K. and Ava Jackson. The band blends classic blues structures with Memphis soul and rock and roll momentum. Their 2025 Alligator Records release Family earned a second Grammy nomination and cemented their place as headliners on the international blues circuit.
Morgan Freeman
This isn't blues as a history lesson. It's blues as something alive — recorded at the same Memphis studios where the music was born, and sounding like it still has somewhere to go. Tierinii's voice stands alongside Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo', and Shemekia Copeland on Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience (Decca Records, 2026).
Symphonic Blues / Lineage / Memphis · Decca Records 2026
Listen Now
From Family to the Sinners soundtrack to Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience.