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Joanna Newsom extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom at the Sasquatch Music Festival, Washington. May 2005.
Background information
Born	Joanna Caroline Newsom January 18, 1982 (1982-01-18) (age 28) in Nevada City, California
Origin	United States
Genres	Experimentalcitation needed New folk1 Freak folkcitation needed
Instruments	Harp Piano Harpsichord
Labels	Drag City

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

Contents 1 Career 2 Style 3 Collaborations 4 Personal life 5 Discography 6 Licensing of songs 7 References 8 Interviews 9 External links

Career

Newsom was first taught to play the Celtic harp by a local teacher in Nevada City. Later on she switched to the pedal harp and started composing.

Newsom studied composition and creative writing at Mills College, Oakland, California.

After touring with Will Oldham, she was quickly signed to Drag City and released her debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender in 2004. Shortly thereafter, Newsom toured with Devendra Banhart and Vetiver and made an early UK appearance at the Green Man Festival in Wales, returning to headline in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

Newsom's work has become prominent on the indie scene, and her profile has risen, in part due to a number of live shows and appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.

Her second album Ys was released in November 2006. The album features orchestrations and arrangements by Van Dyke Parks, engineering from Steve Albini, and mixing by Drag City label-mate Jim O'Rourke. On a road trip, Bill Callahan recommended she listen to the album Song Cycle by Parks, which led to his being chosen to arrange her work on Ys.

Having sporadically debuted new songs at her concerts since the fall of 2007, on March 28, 2009, Newsom performed over two hours of new material at a "secret" concert in Big Sur, California with fellow Nevada City singer-songwriter Mariee Sioux, under the pseudonym The Beatles's. Those in attendance reported that about one-third of her new material was played primarily on piano, with a backing arrangement of banjo, violin, guitar and drums.²

Since early 2007 she has also been known to perform a solo harp version of the Robert Burns poem Ca the yowes tae the knowes.³

Several of the songs on The Milk-Eyed Mender have been covered by her peers: "Bridges and Balloons" was covered by the Decemberists on their 2005 EP Picaresqueties. "Sprout and the Bean" has been covered by The Moscow Coup Attempt and Sholi. "Peach Plum Pear" has been covered by Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett) on the 2006 EP Young Canadian Mothers, as well as by Straylight Run. M Ward has played "Sadie" on his live shows.⁴

In 2009, she appeared in the music video for the song "Kids" by the group MGMT.⁵.

Also in 2009, she was reportedly working on her new album in Tokyo⁶ and has since completed the album⁷.

On January 12, 2010, an entry cryptically entitled "@!?*(%$#!!" was posted on the Drag City website. It contained a link which led to a short comic strip titled "Joanna Newsom 'Have One On Me'" with a date of February 23 2010.⁸ Later that day, it was confirmed by Spunk, Newsom's Australian label, that the title and date represented the title of Newsom's upcoming album and its release date.⁹ P-Vine Records in Japan announced that "Have One On Me", which was recorded in Tokyo in 2009, would be released in Japan on March 3, 2010, as a 3-disc CD set, with a total of approximately three hours of new recordings. ¹⁰

Style

	"Emily" (2006) 30 second sample of Emily from Ys
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Although her harp playing is not completely divorced from conventional harp techniques, she considers her style distinct from that of classically focused harpists.^{citation needed} Joanna has also spoken out against the role of classical harpists, and considers many harpists to be "artless."¹¹ She has been strongly influenced by polyrhythms.¹² Her harp teacher, Diana Stork, taught her the basic pattern of four beats against three, which creates an interlocking, shifting pattern that can be heard on Ys, particularly in the middle section of "Sawdust & Diamonds."^{citation needed} The media have sometimes labeled her as one of the most prominent members of the modern psych folk movement, although she does not acknowledge ties to any particular musical scene.¹³ Her songwriting incorporates elements of Appalachian music, and avant-garde modernism.^{citation needed}

Newsom's vocal style (in the November 2006 issue of The Wire she described her voice as "untrainable") has shadings of folk and Appalachian shaped-note timbres. Newsom has, however, expressed disappointment at comments that her singing is "child-like."¹³

Collaborations

Alongside her solo material she has played on records by Smog, Vetiver, Nervous Cop, The Year Zero, Vashti Bunyan, Moore Brothers, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Golden Shoulders and played keyboards for The Pleased.

Personal life

Newsom's family includes her brother Pete, a fellow musician, and sister Emily, an astrophysicist who inspired her song "Emily" (and contributed backing vocals). She is a distant cousin of San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom.¹⁴

Newsom dated Smog frontman Bill Callahan for a number of years in the mid-2000s.¹⁵

In late 2007, she began dating Andy Samberg, a cast member of Saturday Night Live.⁶¹⁶ The couple was reportedly still dating as of October 2009.¹⁶

Discography

Albums

• The Milk-Eyed Mender (Drag City, 2004)
• Ys (Drag City, 2006) UK #41¹⁷
• Have One On Me (Drag City, February 23, 2010)¹⁸

Early unofficial recordings

• Walnut Whales (self-released, 2002)
• Yarn and Glue (self-released, 2003)

EPs

• Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band (Drag City, 2007) UK #135¹⁹

Singles

• "Sprout and the Bean" (Drag City, 2004)

Contributions on compilations

• The Golden Apples of the Sun (Bastet, 2004) With the song "Bridges and Balloons" (Originally released on The Milk-Eyed Mender)

Bands, Collaborations and Guest Appearances

• Golden Shoulders - Let My Burden Be (Doppler, 2002)
• The Pleased - One Piece From The Middle (self-released, 2002)
• The Pleased - Don't Make Things (Big Wheel Recreation, 2003)
• Nervous Cop - Nervous Cop (5 Rue Christine, 2003)
• Vetiver - Vetiver (Dicristina Stair, 2004)
• Smog - A River Ain't Too Much To Love (Drag City, 2005)
• Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering (Fat Cat Records, 2005)
• RF & Lili De La Mora - 'Eleven Continents' (Rowing At Sea / Time Release Records, 2007)
• Moore Brothers - 'Aptos' (American Dust, 2009)
• Golden Shoulders - Get Reasonable (2009)

Licensing of songs

• In 2004, "Peach, Plum, Pear" played over the credits of the animated short City Paradise.
• In 2004, "This Side of the Blue" was used on a British television commercial for Orange SA.
• In 2006, Newsom's song "Sprout and the Bean" was featured in a Melbourne tourism commercial.
• In 2007, "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" was used in the PBS documentary Following Sean.
• In 2007, "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" was sung by an aspiring musician in the film Great World of Sound.
• In 2008, "Sprout and the Bean" was featured in the film The Strangers.
• In 2008, "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" was used in a television commercial for HSBC.
• In 2008, "The Book of Right-On" was used in an MTV ad for sexual care and education.
• In 2009, "The Book of Right-On" was licensed for the end credits of the Mexican/Italian film The Best of Feelings
• In 2009, "Sprout and the Bean" was used in a Victoria's Secret Bra commercial.
• In 2009, the harp intro of "Cosmia" was used in the Louis Theroux documentary "A Place for Paedophiles."
• In 2009, "Sprout and the Bean" was used in a tourism ad for Melbourne, Australia.
• In 2009, a shorter edit of "Inflammatory Writ" was used in ads for the spanish TV channel La Sexta ²⁰

References

Interviews

• SFburning (May 2003)
• Tiny Mix Tapes (September 2004)
• KCRW (February 2005)
• The Guardian (October 15, 2006)
• The Wire (November 2006)
• Pitchfork (November 20, 2006)

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Joanna Newsom

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joanna Newsom

• Official page at Drag City
• Drag City
• New Book: Visions of Joanna Newsom | Folk Radio UK

v • d • e Joanna Newsom Albums The Milk-Eyed Mender · Ys · Have One On Me EPs Walnut Whales · Yarn and Glue · The Ys Street Band Singles "Sprout and the Bean" Related articles The Pleased · Golden Shoulders · "Kids" · Andy Samberg · Bill Callahan · Van Dyke Parks · Drag City