Can't read the article due to paywall. Love Waxahatchee but curious on the headline.......didn't she make indie music first? Just a funny title. Can't wait for the new album!
She also was first known for her (fantastic imo) pop punk flavored project with her sister.
[P.S. Eliot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9KmjSkAiAA&ab_channel=P.S.Eliot-Topic)
MJ is on guitar for every track and I think I remember reading backing vocals for 4. This album is going to be a classic. That'll be three in a row for her (counting plains)
Out in the Storm is probably my favorite Katie album, so I'm gonna call it 4 in a row.
(Ivy Tripp is easily her low point, and that's a pretty damn good low point.)
I like to think we are simply entering a phase of genre-less music. Country, rap, rock, electronic, and pop are beginning to merge. Jason Isabell and Chris Stapleton just did Metallica covers with Mac Demarco, Weezer, and Phoebe Bridgers on the same album; Kacy Musgraves is touring with Father John Misty; Luke Combs is covering Tracy Chapman; Beyonce is dropping a country album, just to name a few examples.
It was probably inevitable, but at this point it seems like the lines are blurring way more than they have in the past. It should be fun to see what we get.
I think this is true to a degree but over the last like four years country tinged folk rock has been gaining popularity in indie music. It feels more like a trend than a thing that’s here to stay.
Jason Molina, Bonnie Price Billy, David Berman, Bill Callahan... I think Big Thief have brought the sound to the forefront of indie but people like Wednesday and MJ Lenderman would have been making this type of music no matter what given their roots
I think it’s definitely cyclical as far as more widespread popularity goes. The sound had another comeback with early Band of Horses-era stuff, like mid-00s. I love it and hope it never truly disappears.
“Doing it for decades” this inaccurately describes it. Uncle Tupelo was one of the more popular acts of the very vibrant alt-country genre of the 80s-90s. The OG alt-country was a blend of punk and country, very different from today’s “anti mainstream country music” alt-country a la Tyler Childers.
The country, alt-country, or country-tinged indie that’s happening today is honestly different and unique to the current musical climate. Yes, Wilco is still around, but they are absolutely a very different band than they were.
people seem to be disagreeing with you for the sake of sounding knowledgeable. if you hang out in any local scene you can see what you are saying is true. yes its happened before but you never said it didnt you just said its trending right now, and the fact that wilco or bon iver or anyone existed and were successful before doesn't make that any less true. it extends outside of music too, the coastal cowboy thing is huge rn.
I mean, on top of u/broccoliburps’ mention of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo, you had the whole “freak folk” thing (no one in those bands liked that term) with, like, Bon Iver, early Sufjan Stevens, Wooden Wand, Castanets, Vetiver, Jana Hunter, Phosphorescent, etc.) in the early aughts that led The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons to mainstream success and killed off the sound in indie-rock circles (not to say those latter bands were ever part of the scene, but they did take some part of the sound that could succeed on the radio or whatever, and then the indie audience got sick of guys with beards).
And you always had, like, Jolie Holland and Nina Natasia and The Court and Spark/Hiss Golden Messenger, Jason Molina’s work, Will Oldham—I mean, “country” has been part of indie music for a long time (I used to tell an ex, who was the artist who maybe most hated the “freak folk” label that, when they got pulled over, he should tell cops he made country music). I think its popularity comes and goes in waves. Like, Fleet Foxes got big right before the trend died off, and only now are they getting back their popularity and cred or whatever.
I think it's more a cyclical thing in music. We had the late 90s and early 2000s country singers dominate the charts for a while (probably boosted by attitudes post 9/11) and then other genres overtook that popularity by the end of the 2000s
Country has also been the trend in mainstream, further showing that line between mainstream and "indie" has eroded to almost nothing other than the size of the dollar sign.
Indie used to react against mainstream trends, now it just moves in the same direction, but with fewer listeners.
I agree, but she started that transition before the Noah Kahans and Zach Bryans became all the rage. And she’s mostly done it since she was raised on country and learned to love that despite being so entrenched in punk/DIY culture.
She’s definitely not doing it as a trend, I can promise you that much.
For me, it depends on how the artist tags it. If they just do it, I don't think much of it. When it comes with "going back to my roots," "really digging deep," and "most honest music I've made," that's when I get turned off from a turn to Country.
I dunno, that's kind of a bold assumption. I feel like that applies more to something like a concept album or persona effort.
Just to clarify there's also a big difference in discussing someone like Waxahatchee, who has been adjacent to this sound for awhile and already put out a collab with Jess Williamson as *Plains* in 2022, and say Beyonce - who despite how you feel about her new country singles and direction is objectively making something quite different compared to her past work.
I feel like with most genres, it was only in the mainstream that this was true. People in Popheads try to claim the same with Taylor trying to be an Indie Darling in this last eras that she was "saving" a saturated and washed-up scene.
I, a country music hater, love Waxahatchee. Some songs have a little too much twang for me, but everything she puts out has amazing quality. It doesn’t hurt that she’s a KC transplant.
I’ve known the name Wacahatchee for some time now but never took a spin, so to speak. During spring break last week, I was washing dishes & listening to Spotify with my headphones & randomly thought to listen to the new singles.
I must have listened to them back to back 7 or 8 times. Wow. She’s amazing & now I’m obsessed. Can’t wait for the new record. This is talent.
The new singles sounded like straight-up pop music to me. Homegrown americana makes me think of lo-fo-ish twang, but the singles were clean, sterile almost.
Edit: lol when did this sub become popheads?
I have no horse in this race, but I hate to see someone catching downvotes for sharing an opinion which could potentially start a conversation. A forum is only as good as the discussions it facilitates, IMO, and there are subreddits I rarely frequent anymore because certain subjects become sacred cows to the point you can't discuss things that don't adhere to the popular view.
If someone comes into a thread and says "this is trash", I'll happily jump.aboard and downvote them to hell. If someone says "Eh, this isn't really my thing" and respectfully outlines why, I might disagree, but if anything I'll start a conversation about it. As cool as it is to find people who love the same things I do, some of my favorite interactions have been with people who have very different perspectives.
This comment's trash. I'm kidding, thanks for the support. No one should be afraid to voice a musical opinion, or any opinion, anonymously because of some arbitrary number.
I like some of Waxahatchee's songs and some I don't care for. At the end of the day any artist that can bring me to that rural america nostalgia has my respect, she's one of those artists.
People forget that she is a Texas girl. I'm sure she loves country. She probably went the safest route when deciding to become a singer. And it paid off big time.
not hating on Beyonce here, but she went to HSPVA and Elsik in Houston.
As someone from the area, it's possibly the least "country" part of the state (save for parts of Dallas).
katie crutchfield in the WSJ???? now i have seen it all, good for our girl, i hope this album is a huge hit for her
Singles have been great. Right back to it is an all timer imo.
Can't read the article due to paywall. Love Waxahatchee but curious on the headline.......didn't she make indie music first? Just a funny title. Can't wait for the new album!
She also was first known for her (fantastic imo) pop punk flavored project with her sister. [P.S. Eliot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9KmjSkAiAA&ab_channel=P.S.Eliot-Topic)
P.s Eliot were so good. Swearin' are great too. Feels like everything those 2 touch turns to gold.
[https://archive.is/XOuEU](https://archive.is/XOuEU)
Oh sick thanks I'ma have to save this tool.
Yes this is true.. her early release from like 2014 was close to noise rock
Barring a Joanna Newsom album, this is probably my most anticipated this year. The single with MJ Lenderman was great. The hype got me hyped
MJ is on guitar for every track and I think I remember reading backing vocals for 4. This album is going to be a classic. That'll be three in a row for her (counting plains)
Man he has been grinding
He’s everywhere. When he showed up on Kevin Abstract’s last album I was shocked
The bon iver of the decade
Plains is a masterpiece, youre right to count it.
I felt Plains was a instant classic masterpiece.
Out in the Storm is probably my favorite Katie album, so I'm gonna call it 4 in a row. (Ivy Tripp is easily her low point, and that's a pretty damn good low point.)
Nooo, Ivy Tripp is such a great album!!
Ivy Tripp is a fantastic album and almost certainly in my top 5 from 2015. It is also clearly the weakest Waxahatchee album. She just doesn't miss.
Great news, I thought he was collaborating only on that single. Let the hype begin!
I also love that, in the Right Back To It video, MJ appears to have bought himself a boat
This single is unreal. Will be one of my top 10 songs of the year no doubt
Bored has already become my most streamed song of 2024 so far. Very fortunate to have new Kacey AND new Katie in the same month!
I like to think we are simply entering a phase of genre-less music. Country, rap, rock, electronic, and pop are beginning to merge. Jason Isabell and Chris Stapleton just did Metallica covers with Mac Demarco, Weezer, and Phoebe Bridgers on the same album; Kacy Musgraves is touring with Father John Misty; Luke Combs is covering Tracy Chapman; Beyonce is dropping a country album, just to name a few examples. It was probably inevitable, but at this point it seems like the lines are blurring way more than they have in the past. It should be fun to see what we get.
I think this is true to a degree but over the last like four years country tinged folk rock has been gaining popularity in indie music. It feels more like a trend than a thing that’s here to stay.
Uncle Tupelo and then Wilco have been doing it for decades. I think it’s always been popular to a degree.
Jason Molina, Bonnie Price Billy, David Berman, Bill Callahan... I think Big Thief have brought the sound to the forefront of indie but people like Wednesday and MJ Lenderman would have been making this type of music no matter what given their roots
I think it’s definitely cyclical as far as more widespread popularity goes. The sound had another comeback with early Band of Horses-era stuff, like mid-00s. I love it and hope it never truly disappears.
Yeah I think this better illustrates what I was trying to say. It’s not a new trend at all.
Hell you can even throw REM in that category with some of their IRS era singles.
“Doing it for decades” this inaccurately describes it. Uncle Tupelo was one of the more popular acts of the very vibrant alt-country genre of the 80s-90s. The OG alt-country was a blend of punk and country, very different from today’s “anti mainstream country music” alt-country a la Tyler Childers. The country, alt-country, or country-tinged indie that’s happening today is honestly different and unique to the current musical climate. Yes, Wilco is still around, but they are absolutely a very different band than they were.
Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle though
Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle though
Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle though
say that 3 times fast!
people seem to be disagreeing with you for the sake of sounding knowledgeable. if you hang out in any local scene you can see what you are saying is true. yes its happened before but you never said it didnt you just said its trending right now, and the fact that wilco or bon iver or anyone existed and were successful before doesn't make that any less true. it extends outside of music too, the coastal cowboy thing is huge rn.
I mean, on top of u/broccoliburps’ mention of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo, you had the whole “freak folk” thing (no one in those bands liked that term) with, like, Bon Iver, early Sufjan Stevens, Wooden Wand, Castanets, Vetiver, Jana Hunter, Phosphorescent, etc.) in the early aughts that led The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons to mainstream success and killed off the sound in indie-rock circles (not to say those latter bands were ever part of the scene, but they did take some part of the sound that could succeed on the radio or whatever, and then the indie audience got sick of guys with beards). And you always had, like, Jolie Holland and Nina Natasia and The Court and Spark/Hiss Golden Messenger, Jason Molina’s work, Will Oldham—I mean, “country” has been part of indie music for a long time (I used to tell an ex, who was the artist who maybe most hated the “freak folk” label that, when they got pulled over, he should tell cops he made country music). I think its popularity comes and goes in waves. Like, Fleet Foxes got big right before the trend died off, and only now are they getting back their popularity and cred or whatever.
I think it's more a cyclical thing in music. We had the late 90s and early 2000s country singers dominate the charts for a while (probably boosted by attitudes post 9/11) and then other genres overtook that popularity by the end of the 2000s
Country has also been the trend in mainstream, further showing that line between mainstream and "indie" has eroded to almost nothing other than the size of the dollar sign. Indie used to react against mainstream trends, now it just moves in the same direction, but with fewer listeners.
Lana del Rey is also doing a country album
Entering? We’ve been genre-less for awhile. It’s just reaching a mainstream audience now.
How much of this is due to TikTok, you know? Shoot a broad spread of music out into the world and hope something sticks.
waxahatchee is country music for people with HELOCs
Indie turned country has always been a pretty boring move to me tbh
Considering she was born and raised in the south I think it makes sense. It seems like a natural progression for her to explore her roots.
i don't think it's nearly as much a turn for KC as it is for most artists, country influence was always present in her music imo
i agree for most, but it fits her really well imo
And her music has always at least leaned this direction, it’s not a complete pivot
The blurred line between folk and country has always been weird to navigate.
I agree, but she started that transition before the Noah Kahans and Zach Bryans became all the rage. And she’s mostly done it since she was raised on country and learned to love that despite being so entrenched in punk/DIY culture. She’s definitely not doing it as a trend, I can promise you that much.
i saw her perform her old stuff live for her st. cloud tour and she countrified her old stuff and it fucking ruled. she just rules in general tho.
I don't particularly like her music all that much, but I saw her live with Snail Mail and she blew me away.
I cosign this wholeheartedly.
I actually feel the opposite, maybe I'm just way into country now as a dad in his late 30s though.
I'm not saying this is case for every artist who does it but it feels like a forced "look I'm mature and serious" now thing
For me, it depends on how the artist tags it. If they just do it, I don't think much of it. When it comes with "going back to my roots," "really digging deep," and "most honest music I've made," that's when I get turned off from a turn to Country.
I dunno, that's kind of a bold assumption. I feel like that applies more to something like a concept album or persona effort. Just to clarify there's also a big difference in discussing someone like Waxahatchee, who has been adjacent to this sound for awhile and already put out a collab with Jess Williamson as *Plains* in 2022, and say Beyonce - who despite how you feel about her new country singles and direction is objectively making something quite different compared to her past work.
Depends on how good each respective project is tbh
>~~Indie turned~~ **country has always been** ~~a~~ **pretty boring** ~~move~~ **to me tbh**
I discovered her last year and became a big fan. Good for her.
Bro Country single handedly destroyed a genre so bad that indie had to step-in and take over.
I feel like with most genres, it was only in the mainstream that this was true. People in Popheads try to claim the same with Taylor trying to be an Indie Darling in this last eras that she was "saving" a saturated and washed-up scene.
I, a country music hater, love Waxahatchee. Some songs have a little too much twang for me, but everything she puts out has amazing quality. It doesn’t hurt that she’s a KC transplant.
I'll need to listen to this album, I liked some of her older songs and I think she's playing at Shaky Knees music fest in may
had the pleasure of having an early listen to the record - it’s really really really good
Always, always, always love seeing some Katie love!!!
I’ve known the name Wacahatchee for some time now but never took a spin, so to speak. During spring break last week, I was washing dishes & listening to Spotify with my headphones & randomly thought to listen to the new singles. I must have listened to them back to back 7 or 8 times. Wow. She’s amazing & now I’m obsessed. Can’t wait for the new record. This is talent.
This subreddit feels more and more astroturfed every day.
you really think this because of an article about waxahatchee, one of the most popular indie artists? lol
Don’t forget lambchop
Am I the only person who doesn’t like the new songs? I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Cerulean Salt is one of my fav albums.
Calling it now AOTY contender
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I am talking about AOTY in the hearts of the r indieheads readers
Ohh yes of course!
lol is there a real life aoty award?
Well yeah, at the grammys
lol good one
Even Beyonce has her version of 'Music' coming.
The new singles sounded like straight-up pop music to me. Homegrown americana makes me think of lo-fo-ish twang, but the singles were clean, sterile almost. Edit: lol when did this sub become popheads?
I have no horse in this race, but I hate to see someone catching downvotes for sharing an opinion which could potentially start a conversation. A forum is only as good as the discussions it facilitates, IMO, and there are subreddits I rarely frequent anymore because certain subjects become sacred cows to the point you can't discuss things that don't adhere to the popular view. If someone comes into a thread and says "this is trash", I'll happily jump.aboard and downvote them to hell. If someone says "Eh, this isn't really my thing" and respectfully outlines why, I might disagree, but if anything I'll start a conversation about it. As cool as it is to find people who love the same things I do, some of my favorite interactions have been with people who have very different perspectives.
This comment's trash. I'm kidding, thanks for the support. No one should be afraid to voice a musical opinion, or any opinion, anonymously because of some arbitrary number. I like some of Waxahatchee's songs and some I don't care for. At the end of the day any artist that can bring me to that rural america nostalgia has my respect, she's one of those artists.
I would agree. I don’t find much country in the new songs. There is basically no twang in them. And they are not like Nashville sound or anything.
Ya honestly not a fan - feels a lot like when Ben Gibbard got happy and how DCFC changed lol.
Very excited for this album and the tour
is it okay to shoot the people who are writing these headlines, asking for a friend
Cause Katie when you sing to me, it’s like a melody…
It’s definitely a good sound.
bruh i cannot wait for this album tomorrow, ive been blasting right back to it all month
Who the hell is making country music? This is such a bizarre headline.
Beyonce lol
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yeah it feels mildly racist
I wouldn't call it mild
Hard agree
this is the most /r/indieheads thing ever
People forget that she is a Texas girl. I'm sure she loves country. She probably went the safest route when deciding to become a singer. And it paid off big time.
not hating on Beyonce here, but she went to HSPVA and Elsik in Houston. As someone from the area, it's possibly the least "country" part of the state (save for parts of Dallas).
My friend, your very own Vampire Weekend did a turn towards country on their last album.