Joanna Newsom

Joanna Caroline Newsom (born January 18, 1982 in Nevada City, California) is an American singer-songwriter, harpist, and pianist.

Biography

Newsom studied music and creative writing at Mills College in Oakland, near San Francisco. She has played the harp since the age of seven.

After playing keyboards with groups including Golden Shoulders and The Pleased, she began singing along with her harp playing in 2002.

With her songs, Newsom soon became one of the most important representatives of the folk movement in the USA known as New Folk, Psychedelic Folk, New Weird America or Freak Folk. In her compositions she combines different musical styles, such as Appalachian folk, indie rock and classical music.

In addition to her soulful harp playing and her lyrically substantial lyrics, the sensitive interpretation of her songs is striking. Her high vocal range as well as her timbre was described as "childlike" in some reviews.

She released twelve of her compositions on her 2004 album The Milk-Eyed Mender, which was praised by music critics and discovered by listeners of many different styles.

Newsom's second studio album Ys was released in November 2006. The two letters Y and S only appeared as a theme in one of Newsom's dreams, but are reminiscent of the mythical town of Ys in Brittany. Produced by Steve Albini and orchestrated by Van Dyke Parks, the album contains five long tracks in over 55 minutes. Newsom processed serious personal experiences and strokes of fate in them. These stories are encoded in the lyrics, but are also expressed through the music. Ys received a lot of attention, both in the German feuilleton and in the music and internet press, which gave the album top ratings.

In February 2010, Newsom released her third studio work, the triple album Have One on Me, which earned her her first Top 40 placement in Europe.

In 2014, Newsom played the role of "Sortilege" in the Thomas Pynchon adaptation Inherent Vice.

On October 23, 2015, their new album Divers was released on CD and LP.

Private life

In February 2013, Joanna Newsom's engagement to actor Andy Samberg was announced after a five-year relationship. On September 21, 2013, the couple married in Big Sur, California. In 2017, their daughter was born.