Joanna Newsom

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Joanna Newsom is a singer-songwriter and harpist from Nevada City, California. She grew up in a musical family. Her mother was a classically trained pianist and her father played the guitar. Joanna knew from a very early age that she wanted to play the harp, but was deemed too young to undertake the rigours of such a substantial instrument, so she learned to play the piano instead. Later, she learned to play on a Celtic harp and her parents bought her a full-sized harp when she was in the seventh grade.

From 2002-2003, Newsom recorded two homemade EPs titled Yarn and Glue and Walnut Whales on a Fisher-Price tape recorder. They weren’t originally intended to be for the public, but her boyfriend at the time (Noah Georgeson) felt they were good and suggested that she burn some copies and sell them at her shows.

Will Oldham was given one of her CDs and was so impressed that he asked her to join him on tour. He also passed her recording on to his record label, Drag City, who signed Newsom to the label and released her debut album, The Milk-Eyed Mender, in 2004. In 2006, Joanna Newsom released her second album, titled Ys.

She has claimed that she dislikes critics describing her voice as childlike, yet songs like Sprout and the Bean from her first album have an unmistakable quality of innocence mixed with incredibly brilliant lyrics, leaving one to determine that she is not a child after all, but a quasi-magical being whose storied lyrics make one laugh and cry at the same time.

In early 2009, Joanna Newsom developed vocal cord nodules, which are masses of tissue that grow on the vocal cords. Newsom claims that she was unable to sing, speak or cry for over for two months.

Newsom’s latest album is Have One on Me, released in February of 2010 by Drag City. This album takes a bit of a new direction with more focus on her piano playing, more complex musical arrangements and a more mature vocal style. Songs of note include the enchanting 81 and the blues-tinged Good Intentions Paving Company.

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