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At just 17, Portland pop/bluegrass songwriter Shannon Wiancko is making a big push under local indie label Sucker Lake Records to get her work in the public consciousness. On Sept. 22, Wiancko’s sophomore EP, Entertainer: Autumn Equinox will drop. A sequel in both tone and topic to her June release, Daisypicker: Summer Solstice, the new songwriter uses seasons as a metaphor for the change in her own life.
“We go through different phases of our lives,” says Wiancko. “Summer is sweet and hopeful and naive. Fall gets more into what it’s like to experience something that changes your life and how that affects you long term.”
Wiancko’s music recalls that of female pop stars with huge followings inspiring so much of the new generation of musicians. Elements of Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lana Del Ray—with a cadence not too dissimilar to Olivia Rodrigo—perpetuate Wiancko’s original music, carrying with it a distinct bluegrass influence.
First taking to bluegrass in the eighth grade, around the same time she began writing songs for her debut EP, the genre undoubtedly impacted the young musician. “I was very moved by it,” says Wiancko. “The sounds of fiddles and mandolins and that stuff, it makes me very happy.”
Wiancko signed to Sucker Lake Records in April after meeting CEO Kyle Delfatti at Youth Music Project, a non-profit music school in West Linn. After taking Delfatti’s recording engineering class, where the pair recorded some of Wiancko’s original music, Delfatti signed the singer to the small label.
“Being 17, she’s a superstar in the making,” says Delfatti. “It feels like it would’ve been stupid not to work with her.”
Though clearly looking towards greater things, Wiancko is notably modest about any future success, focusing more on influencing the individual over attracting large crowds..
“I want to impact people the way the people I look up to have impacted me,” says Wiancko. “No matter how big or small that is, it doesn’t matter. It’d be cool to sell out stadiums, obviously, because everybody wants to do that.”
Wiancko manages to separate herself from “everybody” by consistently making strides towards notability. In 2024 alone, she put out an EP, three singles, played solo gigs, released music videos and will release another EP on Sept. 22. Wiancko’s well-honed ability to produce and record music has resulted in a quickly-developing musical style and sensibility that’s only bound to develop further as time goes on.
“She just has that artistic skill that’s super hard to have,” says Delfatti. “She knows exactly how to use her voice, how to have control over it, where she wants harmonies to go, and punches in perfectly every time. It’s wild to witness, she’s more talented than people like decades her senior.”