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Emerging artists take center stage in Umbrella Arts concert season finale

“Come meet your future Spotify favorites” on March 27 with performances by Claire Ernst and Dani Offline.

By Trace Salzbrenner ·

Dani Offline uses an SP-404 sampler and keyboard in her performances. She said she feels more comfortable with instruments disconnected from the internet. Photo courtesy of Dani Offline
Dani Offline uses an SP-404 sampler and keyboard in her performances. She said she feels more comfortable with instruments disconnected from the internet. Photo courtesy of Dani Offline

Eileen Williston, executive director of The Umbrella Arts Center, had a quick pitch to get people out to their concert series closer.

“Come meet your future Spotify favorites,” she said. 

On March 27, the Umbrella will end its concert season with performances by Claire Ernst and Dani Offline. The concert is another collaboration between the center and Salt Lick Incubator, a group dedicated to promoting lesser-known artists. 

Salt Lick President Liza Levy called the partnership the “gift that keeps on giving.” 

“It’s been really incredible to see the Acton and greater Acton community rallying around these emerging artists,” she said. 

The collaboration began with Salt Lick artists opening for bigger-name performers at Umbrella. Today, the partnership includes three concerts per year — one where Salt Lick artists open for a headliner and two that showcase only the emerging performers.

This year’s season closer is one of the latter concerts, featuring two of Salt Lick’s rising stars.

Along with her own projects, Claire Ernst writes with other artists. She has a writing credit on an upcoming Vince Gill project. Photo courtesy of Claire Ernst
Along with her own projects, Claire Ernst writes with other artists. She has a writing credit on an upcoming Vince Gill project. Photo courtesy of Claire Ernst

Meeting the artists

Ernst said her path into music was almost inevitable, growing up in what she described as a “super-musical” household in Hightstown, New Jersey, where her father was a jazz pianist and her mother a singer. 

“It’s very much in my blood,” she said, recalling childhood traditions such as recording family Christmas albums. Ernst said she wrote her first original song in second grade and has always “just kind of loved making things up” while singing.

Now based in Nashville, Ernst said her style blends the genres she grew up with. 

Ernst describes her music as a blend of Country, R&B, and pop. Photo courtesy of Claire Ernst
Ernst describes her music as a blend of Country, R&B, and pop. Photo courtesy of Claire Ernst

“I always say that I love combining that country storytelling and picture-focused lyricism with R&B grooves and chords,” she said, along with “some of that pop hookiness and relatability.” 

She said her writing has evolved from drawing on friends’ experiences to dipping into her “own pot of life knowledge,” with recent songs exploring relationships and everyday moments.

The Acton concert is part of her first touring stretch as a headliner. 

“Touring seems really intimidating and impossible,” Ernst said, but she hopes the experience will help her “grow as a performer.” 

Dani Offline is a musician, songwriter, and producer with an eclectic musical and academic background. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and spent much of her childhood traveling between the United States and Italy. 

Now a doctoral student in comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, she said her academic work strongly shapes her songwriting. 

“I feel like I’m a writer first,” Dani said. “Whenever I’m making musical decisions, I’m always thinking about how this is going to serve the words.” 

A lifelong reader, she described herself as “an obsessive, voracious bookworm,” noting that poetry and literature often inspire her lyrical approach.

Dani Offline said she takes inspiration from artists such as Jill Scott and Minnie Riperton. Photo courtesy of Dani Offline
Dani Offline said she takes inspiration from artists such as Jill Scott and Minnie Riperton. Photo courtesy of Dani Offline

Musically, she draws from jazz, R&B, and 1970s influences, citing artists such as Jill Scott and Minnie Riperton. Her upcoming Acton performance will feature what she called a “totally offline set,” using an SP-404 sampler rather than a computer. 

Touring as a headliner for the first time, Dani said the experience feels “like a huge dream come true,” even as she takes it “30 minutes by 30 minutes.”

Shaping playlists

Williston said that people in Acton get excited for artists like these because they get to see the journey. 

“People are so excited to hear these artists for the first time and then follow them along in their careers,” she said. “You’re seeing the stars and Grammy winners of tomorrow.”

Williston sees further collaborations between Salt Lick and Umbrella ahead. “We’re looking at ways to give artists the most robust opportunities to benefit from the experience,” she said. 

Levy agreed. 

“In a world where these artists wouldn’t normally be able to sell out a 300-capacity room,” she said, “now they do have that opportunity.”

Claire Ernst and Dani Offline perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 27, at the Umbrella Arts Center, 40 Stow Street. Tickets, $60 ($25 for students), are available at TheUmbrellaArts.org/salt-lick.

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