Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) started taking piano lessons at a very early age and played for a couple of years, but switched to the harp at seven. Her approach to the harp, from the percussive aspects of her playing to her chord changes, was also influenced by West African and Venezuelan harp music, which she began studying at a folk music camp she attended in her early teens. At the same time, she also listened to more vocal-based folk, punk, and jazz like
.
By the time she reached high-school age, Newsom decided she wanted to become a composer, and while that became the focus of her studies, in her free time she began writing and recording instrumental songs. Eventually, Newsom's passion for songwriting won out, and she began studying creative writing to work with words in the same way she was accustomed to working with music.
Although Joanna Newsom's Appalachian-meets-avant-garde take on folk music is her most celebrated work, her range is even more inclusive than her solo career suggests: the classically trained harpist adds a decidedly different, textural sound to
Nervous Cop, the noise rock trio that also features
Deerhoof (1)'s Greg Saunier and
Hella's Zach Hill, and she also plays keyboards for
The Pleased, another San Francisco-area band more akin to
Blondie (35) or
Television than her other projects. Newsom's family and hometown of Nevada City, CA, were both musically rich: her mother trained to be a concert pianist, her father is a guitarist, and her brother and sister play the drums and cello, respectively; meanwhile, the Newsoms also counted composer/pianist
Terry Riley (3) as a neighbor, along with Howard Hersh and W. Jay Sydeman.
Despite her extensive musical background, she hadn't sung until she began concentrating on her songs, but her voice — which had a pure, untrained sound somewhere between a child and a crone — was the perfect complement to her music. Newsom recorded some collections of songs that she gave to her friends, but eventually her music made its way to likeminded musicians like
Will Oldham (1) and
Cat Power (22), both of whom invited her to play opening slots for their shows in 2002. That year also saw the release of the
Walnut Whales EP, which she followed up with more appearances and another EP,
Yarn and Glue, in 2003. After signing to Drag City, Newsom released her full-length debut,
The Milk-Eyed Mender, in spring 2004; later that year, she toured the U.S. with
Devendra Banhart and Europe with
Smog.
In 2006 she changed direction again, with the release of her new album
Ys, which received great critical acclaim and landed Newsom the Number 3 spot on Pitchfork's list of Top Albums of 2006.
