Over two decades as ilyAIMY (i love you And I Miss You), Rob Hinkal and Heather Aubrey Lloyd have played everything from bait shops to biker weeks to clothing-optional resorts all over the country. Their energetic brand of new folk garnered honors from Kerrville Folk Festival, National Association for Campus Activities, the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance and the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Most recently, they are 3-peat Washington Area Music Association Winners for Best Contemporary Folk Group. They engage audiences with humor and award-winning narrative songs that use guitar and djembe to highlight an unforgettably soulful and powerful female vocalist, and percussive, clawhammer-like guitar work that challenges the boundaries of "acoustic." Their infectious energy is softened with cello and lush harmony, making ilyAIMY "a welcome jolt" and "an acoustically roiling, combustible attack on the usual singer/songwriter fare," say reviewers.
The last few years have been ilyAIMY's most exciting. Heather returned from backing Dar Williams' Promised Land Tour. The band added cellist Kristen Jones, now part of the touring trio. Rowan Corbett became a full member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops and toured extensively with Rhiannon Giddens. In 2017, Heather released her CD, "A Message in the Mess," with songs that this summer won her 4th place as a Telluride Troubadour at Colorado's prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival, an honorable mention from the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival and an Emerging Artist slot at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in New York. ilyAIMY also released its 10th CD, "Cicada."
