Rebecca Loebe

Although national recognition arrived for Austin-based artist Rebecca Loebe in 2011 through her appearance as a contestant on The Voice, she had already established herself as an experienced vocalist, songwriter, and audio engineer. At that point her catalog included two full-length releases of introspective, roots-oriented Americana along with a victory in the songwriting contest at the Kerrville Music Festival. Her airy yet commanding delivery, combined with a polished blend of folk, jazz, pop, and blues influences, translated the television exposure into extensive touring throughout the United States and overseas, followed by the later studio albums Blink in 2017 and Give Up Your Ghosts in 2019.

Loebe was born in Arlington, Virginia and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where her engagement with music began early. She took up the guitar at age 11 and soon afterward began composing original material. During her sophomore year of high school she started performing at open-mike nights held at Eddie's Attic, the well-known club located in nearby Decatur. After receiving her diploma at 16, she enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music to study voice, production, and audio engineering. She subsequently took a position at a local studio, using her free time to lay down the recordings that became her 2004 debut album, Hey, It's a Lonely World.

After returning to Atlanta she built a schedule of live performances and freelance engineering work. In 2009 she earned one of the top prizes in the Grassy Hill New Folk Songwriting Competition at the Kerrville Music Festival in Texas. During this period she also released the 2007 EP The Brooklyn Series and the 2010 full-length Mystery Prize, the latter receiving solid airplay on Americana stations.

Following her relocation to Austin, Texas in 2011, Loebe put out the B-sides collection Bees & Zombies and received an invitation that spring to audition for the first season of NBC's The Voice. Her atmospheric interpretation of Nirvana's "Come as You Are" secured her a place on the program; the track was subsequently issued as a single and appeared on the official compilation The Voice: Season 1 Highlights. Capitalizing on the national exposure, she collaborated with producer Matt the Electrician on her third album, Circus Heart, which Black Wolf Records released in 2012. Over the ensuing two years she logged extensive road time, joining folk singer Ellis Paul for U.S. dates and performing in Europe and Japan as well.

Her next project, the 2017 album Blink, emphasized a naturalistic approach and a minimal, live-room atmosphere. Two years later she returned with Give Up Your Ghosts, her debut release for the Austin-based Blue Corn Music imprint.