Laura Pauline Veirs (born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based out of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. She is known for her

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

/ alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case (; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case has a powerful, untrained contralto voice, which has been described by contemporaries and cr ...

and k.d. lang on the case/lang/veirs project. Veirs has written a children's book and hosts a podcast about parenting and performing.

Early life and education

Veirs graduated from

General William J. Palmer High School General William J. Palmer High School, commonly referred to as Palmer High School (PHS), is a public high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship high school of Colorado Springs School District 11, School District ...

in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1997, Veirs graduated from Carleton College, where she was a geology major and studied Mandarin Chinese. During this time, she worked as a translator for a geological expedition in China.

Career

Laura_Veirs_and_José_Medeles_play_at_Mississippi_Studios

Growing up, Veirs heard folk-country, classical, and pop music at home; however, she did not "listen seriously," she says, until in her 20s. At Carleton, she joined all-girl

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band, Rair Kx! After graduation, her taste moved to older country and folk, and during her time in China she began writing lyrics. In 1999, Veirs released a self-titled album, which was recorded live and featuring just herself and guitar. 2003 saw the release of '' Troubled by the Fire'', accompanied by veteran musicians such as

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger. Frisell first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts ...

. She then signed to Nonesuch and released '' Carbon Glacier''. She also signed to

Bella Union Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde. History After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twin ...

for European distribution. '' Year of Meteors'' followed in August 2005, and was selected by the New York Times as a "critic's choice". Veirs released her final album for Nonesuch, ''

Saltbreakers ''Saltbreakers'' is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Laura Veirs. The album was released in Europe and Australia on March 17, 2007, and in the U.S. on April 10, 2007. It was released on Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records i ...

'', in 2007. In January 2010, Veirs released '' July Flame'' on her own Raven Marching Band Records. The album received praise from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' among other publications. In November 2011, Veirs released the album ''Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs for Children''. The album presented mostly traditional songs, and featured an array of guest musicians, including Colin Meloy, Jim James and

Béla Fleck Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classi ...

. ''Tumble Bee'' won a

Parents' Choice Award The Parents' Choice Award was an award presented by the non-profit Parents' Choice Foundation to recognize "the very best products for children of different ages and backgrounds, and of varied skill and interest levels." It was considered a "prest ...

in 2012. In September 2012, her first feature film soundtrack was released: ''Hello I Must Be Going'', for the

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

of the same name. The exclusive soundtrack featured eight instrumental versions of previously released songs, five catalog favorites and one new vocal track, "Spring Song". In August 2013, she released '' Warp & Weft''. In 2015, she worked on the album ''

Carrie & Lowell ''Carrie & Lowell'' is the seventh studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens. It was released on March 31, 2015, by Asthmatic Kitty. It is executively produced by Stevens, and features guest contributions from Thomas Bartlett, Sean Care ...

'' by Sufjan Stevens. Veirs' long term collaborator and then husband,

Tucker Martine Tucker Martine (born January 14, 1972) is an American record producer, musician and composer. In 2010, ''Paste'' Magazine included Martine in their list of the 10 Best Producers of the Decade. Early life Tucker Martine, the son of singer and son ...

, engineered some of the album. Veirs was lead songwriter for the 2016 album '' case/lang/veirs'', a collaborative project between Veirs, k.d. lang and Neko Case. The album received positive reviews and a

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

rating of 82. In April 2018, she released her tenth studio album '' The Lookout'' on her own label Raven Marching Band in North American and

in the rest of the world. It was a concept album about the fragility of precious things. It featured contributions from Sufjan Stevens, Jim James and was produced by Tucker Martine. Earlier, in January 2018, she had launched a podcast, ''Midnight Lightning'', about the lives of musician parents. The first season featured weekly interviews with 14 mother musicians such as

Corin Tucker Corin Lisa Tucker (born November 9, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for her work with rock band Sleater-Kinney. Tucker is also a member of the alternative rock supergroup Filthy Friends, and previously recorded ...

( Sleater-Kinney), Carol Kaye,

Rosanne Cash Rosanne Cash (born May 24, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country musician Johnny Cash and Vivian Liberto Cash Distin, Johnny Cash's first wife. Although she is often classified as a country art ...

, Rhiannon Giddens,

Meshell Ndegeocello Michelle Lynn Johnson, better known as Meshell Ndegeocello (; born August 29, 1968), is a German-born American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on so ...

, Amanda Bergman among others. In early 2018, Chronicle Books published her first picture book, ''Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten''. A story about folk musician Elizabeth Cotten (aka "Libba") it was illustrated by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. ''Libba'' was a

Junior Library Guild Junior Library Guild, formerly the Junior Literary Guild, is a commercial book club devoted to juvenile literature. It was created in 1929 as one of the enterprises of the Literary Guild, an adult book club created in 1927 by Samuel W. Craig and H ...

selection and received the

. On

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...

2020, Veirs released the song "I Was a Fool", exploring her divorce. In July, her eleventh studio album '' My Echo'' was made available for

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

with a scheduled release in October. Veirs continued to write and record, finishing most of an album's worth of material by the time, '' My Echo'', was released.

Touring band members

* Laura Veirs – vocals, guitar, banjo * Eli Moore – bass, guitar, synth *

Eyvind Kang Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboards and others. In addition to his solo work, Kang has worked extensively wit ...

– viola * Karl Blau – guitar, bass, saxophone, keyboards, vocals * Steve Moore – piano, keyboards, bells, euphonium, vocals

Production

Tucker Martine was a producer on many of the albums including ''Carbon Glacier, Year of Meteors,'' ''Saltbreakers'', ''July Flame'', ''Tumble Bee and'' ''Warp & Weft''.

Raven Marching Band records

Veirs runs a record label, Raven Marching Band Records, that has released her own and other artists' music. In 2016, the label released '' Introducing Karl Blau'', which was crowdfunded.

Style

In 2007, Veirs said about her lyrics, "I like to be personal in my writing, but not overly confessional." Many of her lyrics are inspired by literary works. The song "Saltbreakers" on her 2007 album ''

'' was partially inspired by A. S. Byatt's '' Possession''. Another song on the same album, "Don't lose yourself", was partially inspired by

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which hec ...

's novel, ''

Blindness Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

''. T. S. Eliot was an inspiration for the song "Margaret Sands" on ''The Lookout''.

Personal life

Veirs lives in

. Around 2000, Veirs married Tucker Martine, who has collaborated with her musically. The couple have two children born 2010 and 2013, but in November 2019, Veirs announced she and Martine were divorcing.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Laura Veirs'' (1999) * '' The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae'' (2001) * '' Troubled by the Fire'' (2003) * '' Carbon Glacier'' (2004) * '' Year of Meteors'' (2005) * ''

'' (2007) * '' July Flame'' (2010) * '' Tumble Bee'' (2011) * '' Warp & Weft'' (2013) * '' case/lang/veirs'' (2016), with

and k.d. lang * '' The Lookout'' (2018) * '' My Echo'' (2020) * '' Found Light'' (2022)

Works and publications

References

External links

* * * *
Raven Marching Band Records
– record label
Laura Veirs
at

Bella Union Records Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde. History After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twins ...

Midnight Lightning
– podcast
case/lang/veirs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veirs, Laura American women singer-songwriters Carleton College alumni Musicians from Colorado Springs, Colorado Musicians from Portland, Oregon 1973 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Singer-songwriters from Oregon 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Bella Union artists Nonesuch Records artists Singer-songwriters from Colorado American women podcasters American podcasters