The San Francisco Chapter and the GRAMMY Foundation hosted a GRAMMY SoundChecks with Rachael Yamagata on Nov. 17 before her sold-out show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Yamagata was in town headlining the local stop of the Hotel Cafe tour featuring the all-female line-up consisting of Yamagata, Lenka, Meiko, Thao Nguyen, and Emily Wells. The tour covered 35 major markets in the United States and highlighted these up-and-coming artists in a collaborative fashion which featured the artists sharing a backline band and performing back-up vocals for one another's songs.
GRAMMY U students gathered to watch the soundcheck, catching both Yamagata as well as hometown artist Nguyen as they prepped for the show. Yamagata performed songs from her debut album Happenstance and her new album Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart. After the soundcheck, students filed into the green room for a question-and-answer session led by Chapter Project Manager Kaitlin McGaw.