Waxahatchee
Photo of Crutchfield with great dignity playing acoustic guitar on festival stage
Waxahatchee performing at Sled Island Festival 2017 in Calgary, Canada.
Background information
OriginBirmingham, Alabama, United States
Genres
Years active2010–present
Labels
Spinoff ofP.S. Eliot
Members
  • Katie Crutchfield
Websitewaxahatchee.com

Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield (born January 4, 1989), previously a member of P.S. Eliot. The band is named after Waxahatchee Creek, in Alabama, where Crutchfield grew up.[2] Originally an acoustic solo project, her recordings now tend to involve a backing band, and the music has increasingly been performed this way. Crutchfield, as Waxahatchee, has released 5 albums to date: American Weekend (2012), Cerulean Salt (2013), Ivy Tripp (2015), Out in the Storm (2017) and Saint Cloud (2020).

History

2010–2017: American Weekend, Cerulean Salt, and Ivy Tripp

While a member of P.S. Eliot, a band formed with her twin sister Allison, Crutchfield released her first music as Waxahatchee as a cassette. Her bedroom-recorded debut album, American Weekend, was recorded in 2011 and released on Don Giovanni Records in 2012.[3][4][5] Crutchfield wrote and recorded the album in one week at her family home in Birmingham, Alabama. Her lyrics focused on personal relationships, devastation and longing.[6]

The album garnered positive reviews and was named a top album of 2012 by Dusted magazine.[7] "Be Good" was a song of the day on National Public Radio,[8] and listed as one of the best 50 songs of 2012.[9] "Catfish" was featured in Welcome to Night Vale.

A second album, Cerulean Salt, was released in March 2013 on Don Giovanni Records in the United States and four months later on Wichita Recordings in the U.K.[10][11] The critically acclaimed album reached #1 on the Official Record Store Chart in July 2013 and scored 8.4 on Pitchfork.[12][13] Waxahatchee supported Tegan And Sara on their U.K. tour, before playing a headline U.K. tour in October that same year.[11][14]

Crutchfield signed to Merge Records, which released her third album, Ivy Tripp, in April 2015.[15] Waxahatchee toured non-stop for the rest of 2015, including tours with Kurt Vile and the Violators and Sleater Kinney.

2017–present: Out in the Storm and Saint Cloud

In 2017, Waxahatchee toured with The New Pornographers, and also embarked on a headlining tour around the United States.[16] In the autumn months they toured various parts of Europe in clubs and festivals. Waxahatchee's fourth album, Out in the Storm, was released on July 14, 2017 on Merge Records. It moves away from the lo-fi sound of previous albums, partly due to the guidance of co-producer John Agnello. It was recorded in the Miner Street Recordings studio with her former touring band.[17] Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork wrote of "Katie Crutchfield’s sharp, gorgeous songwriting", "immersive" band sound and "songs that play like fiery exorcisms" in a review of the album.[18] Waxahatchee opened Jawbreaker's first Los Angeles shows in 22 years at the Hollywood Palladium on March 10, 2018 and in New York City at Brooklyn Steel on February 27, 2018.[19]

In January 2020, Waxahatchee announced her 5th album Saint Cloud and released a single called "Fire". The album was recorded in 2019 at Sonic Ranch in Texas and at Long Pond in Stuyvesant, New York with producer Brad Cook. The album features Detroit-based band Bonny Doon. On February 18 she released the single "Lilacs" and on March 16 she released the single "Can't Do Much."[20][21] In a comprehensive interview with Will Gottsegen at Billboard she spoke about her musical influences and recent sobriety.[22]

Waxahatchee made it at No. 7 on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart of April 2020, as her fifth album, Saint Cloud, arrived at No. 1 on Heatseekers Albums, No. 2 on Americana/Folk Albums and No. 6 on Alternative Albums with 7,000 units. The single "Lilacs" same time ranked at No. 36 on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart.[23]

In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Crutchfield performed a series of live concert streams comprising all the songs from one of her studio albums. She announced the series as a deep dive into her backlist in an attempt to reach out to her fans and also to generate some income after the pandemic caused suspension of all touring.[24]

In 2021, Waxahatchee was inter alia part of then Newport Folk Festival as well the Mempho Music Festival in the Radians Amphitheater of Memphis, Tennessee.[25] Her album Saint Cloud won the Libera Awards 2021 as Best Country Record.[26]

Waxahatchee's cover of Kevin Morby's "Downtown's Lights" was featured over the closing credits on Episode 6 "Debt Collection" of American Rust.

In July 2022, Crutchfield announced Plains, a collaboration project with singer-songwriter Jess Williamson. Their debut album, I Walked with You a Ways, was released in October 2022.[27]

In December 2023, Waxahatchee was featured on the song "Pretty Paper" on the album A Philly Special Christmas Special.

Personal life

Katie Crutchfield has been in a relationship with songwriter Kevin Morby since 2017, and they live together in Overland Park, Kansas.[28]

In 2017, with Morby, she published a cover of "After Hours" from the Velvet Underground's 1969 self-titled album.[29] In January 2018, indie label Dead Oceans, published the cooperation single Farewell Transmission b/w The Dark Don't Hide It by Morby & Waxahatchee, in homage to songwriter Jason Molina.[30][31] Merge Records published the digital single video Chapel of Pines, on YouTube on July 17, 2018, which led Waxahatchee back to solo work.[32]

In interviews, Crutchfield has said that her album Saint Cloud was largely written about her decision to get sober.[22]

Katie Crutchfield’s twin sister Allison is also a musician, performing solo and with the band Swearin'.

Discography

Waxahatchee performing live in 2017.

Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
US
[33]
US
Alt

[34]
US
Folk

[35]
US
Indie

[36]
US
Rock

[37]
SCO
[38]
UK
[39]
American Weekend
Cerulean Salt
  • Released: 5 March 2013
  • Label: Don Giovanni
[upper-alpha 1]156
Ivy Tripp 15319915278798
Out in the Storm
  • Released: 14 July 2017
  • Label: Merge
[upper-alpha 2]97
Saint Cloud
  • Released: 27 March 2020
  • Label: Merge
14062171927[upper-alpha 3]
I Walked with You a Ways
(with Jess Williamson as Plains)
  • Released: 14 October 2022
  • Label: Anti-
Tigers Blood
  • Scheduled: 22 March 2024[43]
  • Label: Anti-
To be released
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Waxahatchee performing at The Huichica festival near Walla Walla, Washington in 2019.

EPs

List of EPs, with selected chart positions
Title EP details Peak chart positions
US
Current

[44]
US
Indie

[36]
US
Heat

[40]
Great Thunder
  • Released: 7 September 2018
  • Label: Merge
84266
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles

  • "No Curse" (Weathervane Music's Shaking Through 2017)
  • "Farewell Transmission" b/w "The Dark Don't Hide It" (Kevin Morby & Waxahatchee) (2018, Dead Oceans)
  • "Live at Third Man" (2018)
  • "Lilacs" (2020) #26 US AAA[45]
  • "Other Side" (with Wynonna) (2022)[46]

Notes

  1. Cerulean Salt did not enter the US Billboard 200, but peaked at number 26 on the Top Heatseekers Albums Chart.[40]
  2. Out in the Storm did not enter the US Billboard 200, but peaked at number three on the Top Heatseekers Albums Chart[40] and number 52 on the Top Album Sales chart.[41]
  3. Saint Cloud did not enter the UK Albums Chart, but peaked at number 19 on the UK Official Album Downloads Chart.[42]

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Nominated Work Result Ref
2021 Libera Awards Record of the Year Saint Cloud Nominated [47]
Best Country Record Won

References

  1. Beck, Tom (2015-08-11). "16 Reasons Philadelphia Is the Best Music City in the Country". Philadelphia Magazine.
  2. Pelly, Jenn (2013-01-24). "Rising: Waxahatchee". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
  3. Cauvel, Peter. "WAXAHATCHEE - American Weekend". Verbicide Magazine. Archived from the original on 2012-05-29. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  4. "Waxahatchee playing shows, DBA tonight (dates & streams)". BrooklynVegan. 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  5. Bernardi, Joe. "Dusted Reviews: Waxahatchee American Weekend". Dusted Magazine. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  6. Caramanica, Jon (2012-08-30). "Twin Rock Dreams Prevail". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  7. "Listed: The Dusted Mid-Year Report (2012 Edition)". Dustedmagazine.com. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  8. Tyler-Ameen, Daoud. "Waxahatchee: A Love Song, Without The Love". NPR.org. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  9. "NPR Music's 50 Favorite Songs Of 2012 (So Far)". NPR. Npr.org. 2012-06-12. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  10. "Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt CD/LP out March 5th!". Dongiovannirecords.com. 2013-01-25. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  11. 1 2 "'Waxahatchee sign to Wichita, announce Tegan & Sara Support'". Archived from the original on 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2013-07-17.
  12. "Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt | Album Reviews". Pitchfork.com. 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  13. "2013 Top 40 Official Record Store Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2013-07-25.
  14. "Waxahatchee Announces UK Tour + Cerulean Salt Out Now! « Wichita Recordings". 2013-07-02. Archived from the original on 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2017-07-14.
  15. "Waxahatchee shares new album details Archive". Merge Records. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  16. Yoo, Noah (2017-01-17). "The New Pornographers and Waxahatchee Announce Tour". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  17. Out in the Storm Review, by Sarah Murphy in Canadian Exclaim! Music Mag, published 2017-07-12
  18. Sam Sodomsky: Katie Crutchfield’s fourth album, review in Pitchfork 2017-07-13
  19. "Jawbreaker played BK Steel again, with Waxahatchee". BrooklynVegan. 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  20. "Waxahatchee Shares Video for New Song "Lilacs"". Pitchfork. 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  21. "Listen to Waxahatchee's New Song "Can't Do Much"". Pitchfork. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  22. 1 2 "Waxahatchee Traces the Sound of Recovery on 'Saint Cloud': 'I Had to Hit Pause'". Billboard. 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  23. "Plus, Waxahatchee debuts in the top 10". billboard.com. 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  24. "announcing a run of 5 livestreams". Twitter. 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  25. "Widespread Panic, Avett Brothers Headline Mempho Music Festival". musicfestnews.com. 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  26. "Libera Awards 2021 Winners". liberaawards.com. Archived from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  27. "Plains". 2022-07-27. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
  28. Curto, Justin (2021-01-08). "The House That Rebuilt Them". Vulture. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  29. "Waxahatchee and Kevin Morby Cover the Velvet Underground". pitchfork.com. 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  30. "Farewell Transmission b/w The Dark Don't Hide It by Kevin Morby & Waxahatchee". January 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  31. see Discogs database
  32. "Waxahatchee Chapel of Pines". pitchfork.com. 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  33. "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  34. "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Alternative Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
  35. "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Americana/Folk Albums". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  36. 1 2 "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Independent Albums". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  37. "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Top Rock Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
  38. Peak chart positions in Scotland:
  39. Peaks in the UK:
  40. 1 2 3 "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  41. "Waxahatchee Chart History - Top Album Sales". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
  42. "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100 - 03 April 2020 - 09 April 2020". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  43. Strauss, Matthew (2024-01-09). "Waxahatchee Announces Album and Tour, Shares Video for New Song: Watch". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  44. "Waxahatchee Chart History - Top Current Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
  45. "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Triple A Songs". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  46. "Triple A Future Releases". All Access. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
  47. "A2IM names 2021 Libera indie music awards nominees [the full list]". Hypebot. 2021-03-23. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
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