Waxahatchee
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).
Waxahatchee | |
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![]() Waxahatchee performing at Fairgrounds Festival in Berry, New South Wales, 2018. | |
Background information | |
Origin | Birmingham, Alabama, United States |
Genres | |
Years active | 2010–present |
Labels | Merge Records Don Giovanni Records Wichita Recordings Dead Oceans |
Associated acts |
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Members |
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History
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.
In 2017 Waxahatchee toured with The New Pornographers as well as a headline tour all around the United States.[16] In the autumn months they toured central Europe and Scandinavia in clubs and festivals.
Waxahatchee's fourth album Out in the Storm, was released on 14 July 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 of 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]
On Twitter Crutchfield announced on May 27, 2020, that she would ran a series of five live concert streamings, each comprehending at least all songs of one of her studio albums. Starting on Pentecost Monday with American Weekend each following Monday at 8 pm she will dive deep into her backlist. It's an attempt to reach out to her fans and also to generate some income to survive as a musician the COVID-19 pandemic caused annulation of all touring.[24]
Personal life
Katie Crutchfield has been in a relationship with songwriter Kevin Morby since 2017.
In 2017, with Morby, she published a cover of After Hours from the Velvet Underground’s 1969 self-titled album.[25] 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.[26][27] Merge Records published the digital single video Chapel of Pines, on Youtube on 17 July 2018, which led Waxahatchee back to solo work.[28]
In interviews, Crutchfield has said that her album Saint Cloud was largely written about her decision to get sober.
Discography
![](../I/m/Waxahatchee_-_Way_Back_When_Festival_2017_-_Alexander_Kellner_-_5.jpg)
Studio albums
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||
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US [29] |
US Folk [30] |
US Indie [31] |
SCO [32] |
UK [33] | ||||||
American Weekend |
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— | — | — | — | — | ||||
Cerulean Salt |
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—[upper-alpha 1] | — | — | — | — | ||||
Ivy Tripp | 153 | 9 | 15 | 87 | 98 | |||||
Out in the Storm |
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—[upper-alpha 2] | 9 | 7 | — | — | ||||
Saint Cloud |
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140 | 2 | 17 | 27 | — | ||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
EPs
Title | EP details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
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US [29] |
US Indie [31] | ||||||||
Great Thunder |
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—[upper-alpha 3] | 26 | ||||||
"—" 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 7" (2018)
- Lilacs (2020) #26 US AAA[35]
Notes
- Cerulean Salt did not enter the US Billboard 200, but peaked at number 26 on the Top Heatseekers Albums Chart.[34]
- Out in the Storm did not enter the US Billboard 200, but peaked at number three on the Top Heatseekers Albums Chart.[34]
- Great Thunder did not enter the US Billboard 200, but peaked at number six on the Top Heatseekers Albums Chart.[34]
References
- Beck, Tom (11 August 2015). "16 Reasons Philadelphia Is the Best Music City in the Country". Philadelphia Magazine.
- Pelly, Jenn. "Rising: Waxahatchee". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
- Cauvel, Peter. "WAXAHATCHEE - American Weekend". Verbicide Magazine.
- "Waxahatchee playing shows, DBA tonight (dates & streams)". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- Bernardi, Joe. "Dusted Reviews: Waxahatchee American Weekend". Dusted Magazine. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
- "Twin Rock Dreams Prevail". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- "Listed: The Dusted Mid-Year Report (2012 Edition)". Dustedmagazine.com. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- Tyler-Ameen, Daoud. "Waxahatchee: A Love Song, Without The Love". Npr.org. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- "NPR Music's 50 Favorite Songs Of 2012 (So Far)". Npr.org. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- "Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt CD/LP out March 5th!". Dongiovannirecords.com. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
- "'Waxahatchee sign to Wichita, announce Tegan & Sara Support'". Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- "Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt | Album Reviews". Pitchfork.com. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- "2013 Top 40 Official Record Store Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- "Waxahatchee Announces UK Tour + Cerulean Salt Out Now! « Wichita Recordings". 2 July 2013. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
- "Waxahatchee shares new album details Archive". Merge Records. Retrieved 12 Jan 2015.
- Yoo, Noah (17 January 2017). "The New Pornographers and Waxahatchee Announce Tour". Pitchfork. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
- Out in the Storm Review, by Sarah Murphy in Canadian Exclaim! Music Mag, published 12 July 2017
- Sam Sodomsky: Katie Crutchfield’s fourth album, review in Pitchfork 13 July 2017
- "Jawbreaker played BK Steel again, with Waxahatchee". BrooklynVegan. February 28, 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
- "Waxahatchee Shares Video for New Song "Lilacs"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
- "Listen to Waxahatchee's New Song "Can't Do Much"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
- "Waxahatchee Traces the Sound of Recovery on 'Saint Cloud': 'I Had to Hit Pause'". Billboard. 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
- "Plus, Waxahatchee debuts in the top 10". billboard.com. 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
- "announcing a run of 5 livestreams". Twitter. 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- "Waxahatchee and Kevin Morby Cover the Velvet Underground". pitchfork.com. 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- "Farewell Transmission b/w The Dark Don't Hide It by Kevin Morby & Waxahatchee". January 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
- see Discogs database
- "Waxahatchee Chapel of Pines". pitchfork.com. 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Americana/Folk Albums". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Independent Albums". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- Peak chart positions in Scotland:
- "Ivy Trip": "12 April 2015 - 18 April 2015 Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- "Saint Cloud": "03 April 2020 - 09 April 2020 Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- "Waxahatchee" (select "Albums" tab). Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- "Waxahatchee – Chart History: Triple A Songs". Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
External links
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