Laura Veirs

Singer and songwriter Laura Veirs merges the lyrical qualities of modern folk with the expansive song structures typical of indie rock. Her understated yet emotive delivery pairs with guitar playing that shifts between unadorned acoustic textures and sharper electric lines, yielding compositions that remain articulate and perceptive even amid restraint, while her singing balances warmth with understated edge. Critics and attentive audiences first noticed her through the 2003 release Troubled by the Fire, her third album and one produced by then-husband Tucker Martine; the project secured a major-label deal and paved the way for the acclaimed 2004 follow-up Carbon Glacier. A collaborative side project arrived in 2016 as case/lang/veirs alongside Neko Case and k.d. lang. My Echo from 2020 and Found Light from 2022 bookend the end of her marriage in terms of their creation, whereas Phone Orphans from 2023 gathers unrefined smartphone recordings of previously unheard material.

Born October 24, 1973, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Laura Veirs grew up with two educator parents: her father taught college physics and her mother instructed middle-school students. Early piano lessons sparked only mild curiosity, though household exposure to folk, global, and classical recordings joined the pop she enjoyed with peers. At Carleton College in Minnesota she concentrated on geology while also pursuing Mandarin Chinese studies. Music gained traction there after friends shared the sounds of Bikini Kill and Sonic Youth, prompting her to join the all-female punk outfit Rair Kx. A geology expedition to Northeast China, where she worked as translator, often left her alone at camp; she passed the time composing songs on a modest guitar to process her emotions. Post-graduation folk interests led her to Seattle, where open-mike appearances culminated in a 1999 demo that secured a slot at the Bumbershoot festival. Later that year she cut her self-titled debut, captured and mixed live in three hours and issued on her own imprint.

Musician and producer Tucker Martine entered her circle in 2000 and soon became a recurring studio partner on subsequent releases. He helmed her second effort, The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae, another self-released recording that drew strong regional notices. After finishing 2002’s Troubled by the Fire, Martine forwarded the album to Simon Raymonde of Bella Union Records; Raymonde championed it for a U.K. edition while Kill Rock Stars handled the American version. Positive reviews expanded her reach and drew Nonesuch Records, which signed her for Carbon Glacier in 2004, one of that year’s most praised records. Two further well-received Nonesuch albums followed—2005’s Year of Meteors and 2007’s Saltbreakers—before she returned to independent status with July Flame in 2010 on her Raven Marching Band label. By then married to Martine, the couple welcomed their first child that same year.

New parenthood inspired the children’s project Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs for Children in 2011, featuring contributions from Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Béla Fleck. A second child arrived in 2012, and motherhood themes shaped 2013’s Warp & Weft, whose sessions included guest vocals from Neko Case and k.d. lang. Those appearances foreshadowed the trio’s joint Anti- Records album case/lang/veirs in 2015 and its subsequent tour.

Solo work resumed with 2018’s The Lookout, which incorporated a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Mountains of the Moon” plus vocals from Sufjan Stevens and Veirs and Martine’s sons. That year she launched the podcast Midnight Lightning, interviewing fellow musician-parents about balancing creativity and family, and published her debut book, Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten, aimed at young readers. In November 2019 Veirs announced her separation from Martine. On Valentine’s Day 2020 she shared a phone-recorded rough take of “I Was a Fool,” addressing the breakup. My Echo appeared in October 2020, produced by Martine and framed by Veirs as her “‘my songs knew I was getting divorced before I did’ album.” After relocating with her children, she began writing anew and, for the first time since 1999, worked without Martine producing. Co-produced with multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, Found Light from 2022 captured vocals and guitar simultaneously, a technique previously restricted. Phone Orphans in 2023 assembles fourteen selections from roughly nine hundred unreleased home recordings made between 2016 and 2022 solely on her smartphone, without further processing; Veirs performed, recorded, and designed the artwork herself.