Oklahoma guitarist plays solo set in New Bedford Friday night

Millisa Henderson sees the value of being a musician in the South Coast.

​After graduating from the Berklee School of Music in Boston, this Oklahoma native took a job at Double Bar Music in Westport in May of 2020 as a guitar teacher, assistant manager and social media specialist. She fell in love with the area and has remained in this capacity for three years as well as accumulating a reputation as a performer with groups such as the Dave Alves Band, in addition to her solo performances.

​This Friday Henderson will play a solo set from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Interwoven maker space, located at 634 Pleasant St. in downtown New Bedford.

​“My music interests range from John Mayer to really heavy progressive metal, so I’m going to play whatever I feel like, whether it’s acoustic or electric guitar,” Henderson says. “I’ll primarily play covers with my own twists on them, including mashups and medleys. I may throw in some originals as well.”

​Raised in Muskegee, OK, outside of Tulsa, Henderson took to the guitar at the age of 12.

“Growing up, I’d see these picturesque images of New England, it’s such a cool place,” she says. “So I found that the South Coast, the area between Cape Cod and Providence in general, very much reminds me of home, except it’s a little more populated, for sure. Providence is a little bigger version of Tulsa – it’s kind of cool to have the parallels between weird, cool artsy cities. All of the towns I’ve been able to experience here have all these incredibly talented musicians and artists that I’ve been able to play with. There’s a really cool condensed area that’s full of amazingly talented people. There’s a strong sense of community, and that can be hard to find in the music industry sometimes.”