Aidan VanSuetendael is a songwriter and banjo player based in Nashville, Tennessee. Born in Stuart, Florida into a family of artists, she grew up surrounded by music: her mother an Irish step dancer and singer, her father a guitarist, two of her siblings bassists and one sibling a multidisciplinary artist (costume design, drawing, and writing), and her grandfather an animator and cartoonist.

Captivated by the early 2000s and 2010’s indie/folk/pop movement, VanSuetendael was enamored with the early works of artists like Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Death Cab for Cutie, Gregory Alan Isokov, and Iron & Wine.

She began to learn banjo with the help of Cuban/Floridian banjoist Gonzalo Martinez. Through Martinez, she found a deep appreciation of traditional bluegrass, and began attending bluegrass festivals and local camps like Suwannee Banjo Camp in Florida.

VanSuetendael attended Denison University in Columbus, Ohio, where she studied banjo, guitar, and dobro with musicians Andy Carlson, Gary Puckett, and Adam Schlenker, and more. She graduated with a major in Poetry (studying with writers David Baker, Ann Townsend, Fred Porcheddu, and Michael Croley), along with minors in Bluegrass and Biochemistry, all of which guide her songwriting.

In 2019, she partnered with Oregon-based songwriter and violinist Christiana Zollner to form the short-lived but delightful duo Ladyfolk.

In 2020, VanSuetendael joined the internationally-touring band Bill and the Belles on banjo, banjo uke, and vocals. The quartet (Kalia Yeagle, Kris Truelsen, and Andrew Small) hosted the PBS TV show “Farm and Fun Time” and toured heavily across the USA, Canada, UK, and Ireland.

In 2024, VanSuetendael began working on her first solo record of all-original songs, finishing recording in spring of 2025. The album is set to be released in late summer of 2025. Details to come.