Biography
Joanna Newsom is an American harpist, singer and songwriter, born on January 18, 1982, in Grass Valley, California, and raised in Nevada City by two doctors.[7] She attended a Waldorf school, where she practiced memorizing and reciting long poems, and asked to learn the harp at age five.[7]
After starting on smaller Celtic harps, she studied improvisation and composition, and at folk camp learned a West African cross-rhythm technique she later applied to folk melodies.[6] She studied composition and then creative writing at Mills College, where she played keyboards in The Pleased, before leaving to focus on music.[7]
Her homemade EPs Walnut Whales (2002) and Yarn and Glue (2003) reached Will Oldham, who passed one to Drag City. The label signed her and released her debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender in 2004.[7] She has described her singing as untrained and intuitive, and names Texas Gladden as a major vocal inspiration.[6]
References
- Sprout and the Bean (Wikipedia) — Single release date, video director, commercial uses and chart-style rankings
- The Milk-Eyed Mender (Wikipedia) — Album release, personnel, instruments, reception and sales
- Seamless Dreams: Joanna Newsom's The Milk-Eyed Mender at 20 (Beats Per Minute) — Analysis of the harp rhythm, chorus layering and the album as adult fairy tales
- Only the voice is childlike (Reykjavik Grapevine) — 2006 interview mentioning the song as a crowd sing-along
- The Milk-Eyed Mender Turns 10 (Stereogum) — Retrospective on her voice, scene context and 2004 touring
- An Interview with Joanna Newsom (The Believer) — Newsom on harp training, voice, lyrics, influences and innocence
- Joanna Newsom (Wikipedia) — Biography, education, early EPs and Drag City signing
- Joanna Newsom video page (Hip Video Promo) — Description of the music video