Biography
Jolie Holland works as a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer whose approach merges traditional folk with jazz and experimental rock textures. She helped establish the Vancouver-based Americana ensemble the Be Good Tanyas and stepped away once the group issued its first album, Blue Horse (2000). Afterward she built a reputation through a sequence of distinctive solo releases—Catalpa (2003), The Living and the Dead (2008), Wine Dark Sea (2014), and Haunted Mountain (2023)—that continue to expand the scope of American roots music.
Texas served as her childhood home, where she began writing, performing, and singing original material at an early age. During her teenage years she mastered piano, guitar, and fiddle while working as an itinerant musician. In the mid-'90s she settled briefly in San Francisco, then continued onward to Vancouver, where she formed the neo-traditionalist folk group the Be Good Tanyas. Holland played on the Tanyas’ Blue Horse LP (Nettwerk, 2001) before returning to San Francisco, at which point a collection of solo demo recordings began circulating. Those stark, image-rich pieces drew on American folk traditions rooted in Texas yet uncovered fractured hope and accumulated darkness from the nation’s history through fresh and resonant means. Growing attention from national publications, together with Tom Waits’s nomination of Holland for the Shortlist music prize, prompted Anti to sign her in August 2003; the demos appeared officially as Catalpa that November.
Holland delivered her first proper studio album, Escondida, in April 2004. The record skillfully wove blues, folk, gospel, and dusky vocal jazz, positioning her at once among the country’s foremost young songwriters. Springtime Can Kill You followed in 2006 with comparable strength. The Living and the Dead arrived in 2008. Over the ensuing years she toured widely, contributed to other artists’ projects, and moved to New Orleans. Alongside co-producer Shahzad Ismaily she tracked her next album, Pint of Blood, in New York as well as in her own home studio and similar close-quarters settings. The project appeared under the name Jolie Holland & the Grand Chandeliers, whose lineup also featured Ismaily, guitarist Marc Ribot, and Grey Gersten. It contained nine original songs plus a closing cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Rex’s Blues” and reached the public through Anti in June 2011. Three years later she unveiled her fifth studio album, the expansive and abrasive Wine Dark Sea, issued by Anti in May 2014 and marked by a Tom Waits-like sensibility. In 2017 Holland rejoined former Be Good Tanyas colleague Samantha Parton for Wildflower Blues, which included a striking interpretation of Townes Van Zandt’s “You Are Not Needed Now.”
For 2023’s Haunted Mountain, Holland collaborated with Big Thief’s Buck Meek on an album that set ethereal atmospheres against lyrics steeped in discord and provocation. Meek later recorded his own take of the title track for his similarly titled 2023 release.
Texas served as her childhood home, where she began writing, performing, and singing original material at an early age. During her teenage years she mastered piano, guitar, and fiddle while working as an itinerant musician. In the mid-'90s she settled briefly in San Francisco, then continued onward to Vancouver, where she formed the neo-traditionalist folk group the Be Good Tanyas. Holland played on the Tanyas’ Blue Horse LP (Nettwerk, 2001) before returning to San Francisco, at which point a collection of solo demo recordings began circulating. Those stark, image-rich pieces drew on American folk traditions rooted in Texas yet uncovered fractured hope and accumulated darkness from the nation’s history through fresh and resonant means. Growing attention from national publications, together with Tom Waits’s nomination of Holland for the Shortlist music prize, prompted Anti to sign her in August 2003; the demos appeared officially as Catalpa that November.
Holland delivered her first proper studio album, Escondida, in April 2004. The record skillfully wove blues, folk, gospel, and dusky vocal jazz, positioning her at once among the country’s foremost young songwriters. Springtime Can Kill You followed in 2006 with comparable strength. The Living and the Dead arrived in 2008. Over the ensuing years she toured widely, contributed to other artists’ projects, and moved to New Orleans. Alongside co-producer Shahzad Ismaily she tracked her next album, Pint of Blood, in New York as well as in her own home studio and similar close-quarters settings. The project appeared under the name Jolie Holland & the Grand Chandeliers, whose lineup also featured Ismaily, guitarist Marc Ribot, and Grey Gersten. It contained nine original songs plus a closing cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Rex’s Blues” and reached the public through Anti in June 2011. Three years later she unveiled her fifth studio album, the expansive and abrasive Wine Dark Sea, issued by Anti in May 2014 and marked by a Tom Waits-like sensibility. In 2017 Holland rejoined former Be Good Tanyas colleague Samantha Parton for Wildflower Blues, which included a striking interpretation of Townes Van Zandt’s “You Are Not Needed Now.”
For 2023’s Haunted Mountain, Holland collaborated with Big Thief’s Buck Meek on an album that set ethereal atmospheres against lyrics steeped in discord and provocation. Meek later recorded his own take of the title track for his similarly titled 2023 release.
Albums
Haunted Mountain
2023
Wine Dark Sea
2014
Pint Of Blood
2011
The Living and The Dead
2008
Springtime Can Kill You
2006
Escondida
2004
Catalpa
2003
Singles
