Bethel Steele has been writing music and playing guitar since the age of 14, but wasn’t until a move to a small town outside of Poughkeepsie, New York at age 21, that Bethel began to perform with regularity. At a small dive bar, you’d find Bethel playing covers of songs by Ani DiFranco, the Indigo Girls, Josh Ritter and Susan Werner alongside Bethel’s own originals to a crowd that grew each month.

After a few months of playing in the area, Bethel was given an ultimatum – either make somethi...