Danielle Ponder @ The Episcopal Church of St Luke and St Simon Cyrene - Rochester

April 8th 2022: Danielle Ponder @ The Episcopal Church of St Luke and St Simon Cyrene - Rochester, NY

Danielle Ponder - Photos Courtesy of Amber James

Originally I planned to start this review off by saying that when I was shooting Danielle Ponder’s release show last month that it felt like I had been transported back in time and seeing greats like Diana Ross or Etta James perform. Chills ran down my arms because I knew I was watching a new iconic soulful artist bless us with her talent and grace, just before the entire world would know her name. It was akin to that feeling of anticipation you get just as the roller coaster leaves the station and the first rise of the hill looms ahead. In the month and change since that show, Danielle Ponder’s almost meteoric rise in recognition is more like one of those hydraulic coasters that rockets you out of the station instead of the slow and steady chain-link motor up the hill. From performing at the launch of Oscar Massin Jewelry, which had in attendance such Hollywood stars as Rachel Zoe and Kate Hudson (who are also investors and advisors for the company), Goldie Hawn, and Zooey Deschanel, as well as performing her single “So Long” on the Seth Meyers Late Night Show. And all of this is before her debut album has even dropped! But that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of everything Ponder has accomplished already. A soulful singer by night, during the day, so to speak, she is heavily dedicated to and involved in the fight for racial justice and fixing the flaws in our broken justice system. Recently, she left her public defender job to focus on music full time but that doesn’t mean she’s left any of that behind. In her interview with SPIN magazine, Ponder compared being a public defender with songwriting, telling Niko Stratis, “You know, my job as an attorney is to really tell my client’s story…[It’s similar to songwriting in that] I can take an emotion, and then the songwriter gets to dig deeper into that emotion. They get to dig deeper into what they might have been bringing to the table emotionally — or what you weren’t bringing to the table emotionally. We get to discuss those nuances.” And locally, she was a staple and voice of hope and guidance in the dark during BLM protests in the summer of 2020 and Daniel Prude protests that fall. Ponder is one of those people who you encounter once in a lifetime, simply filled with love, grace, and talent but also a smoldering passion for her music and for the causes she fights for. A month ago, I said I thought I had been transported back in time to the age of Diana Ross and Etta James. But now? I didn’t need to go back in time to experience that, I’ve been honored with watching the rise of this generation’s modern-day Diana Ross, and her name is Danielle Ponder.