Antigone Rising

Antigone Rising
Antigone Rising in 2012 (l-r): Kristen Henderson, Dena Tauriello, Cathy Henderson, Nini Camps
Background information
Origin	New York, NY
Genres	Rock, alternative country
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Lava Records/Atlantic Records Hear Music Blackheart Records
Website	Official Antigone Rising website
Members	Kristen Henderson Cathy Henderson Dena Tauriello Nini Camps
Past members	Jen Zielenbach Penelope "Peppy" Kokines Suzanne Obolsky Ann-Marie Stehn Cassidy

Antigone Rising is an all-female alt-country rock band. Their 2005 album From the Ground Up was the first to be promoted in Starbucks' Hear Music Series, created to discover and spotlight new music.

The band originally met at Bucknell University and was formed in Greenwich Village, New York City, with sisters Cathy (guitar) and Kristen Henderson (guitar/drums), Penelope "Peppy" Kokines as lead vocalist and Suzanne Obolsky on vocals and percussion.

In 1999 the band recruited Cassidy as lead singer.

Their first four albums were recorded mostly with independent labels and financed through fan donations. In 2003, they signed up with Lava Records, a label personally run by Atlantic Records Chairman/ CEO Jason Flom.

In 2005, they became the first artists to be promoted in Starbucks' Hear Music Series, created to discover and spotlight new music. The high visibility, exclusive sale, in-store promotion and airplay at Starbucks across the USA helped the band's acoustic album, From the Ground Up, sell over 450,000 copies by the end of 2005. The album's single, "Don't Look Back", gained popularity among country audiences after its video received heavy airplay on CMT.

Flom departed Lava in 2005. The band's deal with the label continued, but ended in 2008. A new album, Tales From Wonderland was recorded in 2007, but not released.

In 2008 Cassidy left the band to go solo. In 2009, she released Tales From Wonderland as Sink Or Swim under the name The Cassidy Project. Other Antigone Rising band members were not happy about this, with Kristin Henderson publicly voicing their displeasure. Cassidy herself later referred to this episode as "pooping" - so she could move on creatively.