Brandi Waller-Pace (she/they) is a Fort Worth-based musician, educator, and scholar-activist. A singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, she incorporates her proficiency on piano, banjo, guitar, and 'ukulele into her performances. Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, Brandi attended Howard University in Washington, DC. where she received a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Jazz Studies. At Howard she was a member of the critically-acclaimed vocal ensemble Afro Blue, sharing the stage with jazz greats Geri Allen, Carmen Lundy, Andy Bey, Jimmy Cobb, Nnenna Freelon, and Bobby McFerrin.

Brandi then relocated to Fort Worth, TX, where she began teaching public school music and working as an artist-in-residence at Arts Fifth Avenue, where she performs and teaches private music lessons and jazz choir through the nonprofit's Summer Playhouse camps for children. After years of performing primarily jazz, neo-soul, and genre-crossing originals Brandi found the banjo and American roots music, opening a deep connection to traditions of her ancestors. Some of Brandi’s notable performances have been with ArtsGoggle, the City of Fort Worth’s Jazz Series and Juneteenth Celebration, the Affrolachian On-Time Gathering, The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Fort Worth Django Reinhardt Festival. She has since graced an array of stages, from The Fort Worth Django Reinhardt Festival to the Affrolachian On-Time Festival, to Bluegrass Situation and Pinecone’s Shout & Shine Showcase.

During an 11 year tenure as a grade school music educator, she co-wrote music curriculum for the Fort Worth Independent School District and participated in district and community racial and systemic equity work. In 2019 and 2020, Brandi served on the Texas African American Studies Course Curriculum Advisory Team, which helped formulate curriculum standards for Texas’ first state-approved African American Studies course.

Brandi is the creator and organizer of the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival, created to highlight blackness in American roots music. She has co-produced and curated artist lineups for events with Bluegrass Pride; The Bluegrass Situation; and PineCone, the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Decolonizing the Music Room, a nonprofit with a mission of centering Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian voices and experiences in music education and related fields through providing training, content, and community programming. Brandi also sits on the board of directors of Folk Alliance International.

Brandi also works as consultant, presenter, and speaker on topics including decolonizing and antiracist philosophies, jazz and the centrality of Blackness in American roots music, culturally relevant practices, organizational equity practices, and curriculum development. Her research and scholarship focuses on antiracism, decolonization, Black feminist thought, and Afrofuturism. Her writing can be found in the The Orff Echo, The Illinois Music Educator Journal, Music Education Journal, The Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education, the New York Times, Bluegrass Situation and the Decolonizing the Music Room site.