About Me
This site is a fansite.Joanna Newsom was first taught to play the Celtic harp by a local teacher in Nevada City. Later on she moved on to the pedal harp and started composing.Joanna studied composition and creative writing at Mills College, Oakland, California.After touring with Will Oldham, she was quickly signed to Drag City and released her debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender in 2004. One song from the album, Bridges and Balloons, was covered by Colin Meloy, front man of The Decemberists on a cd companion of the Believer Magazine's annual music issue (June/July 2005). Another song from the album, Sprout and the Bean, has been covered by The Moscow Coup Attempt and Sholi. "Peach Plum Pear" has been covered in concert by Owen Pallett who performs as Final Fantasy. Shortly thereafter, Newsom toured with Devendra Banhart and Vetiver.Joanna's work has become prominent on the indie rock scene, and her profile has risen, in part due to a number of live shows and appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.Her second album Ys was released in November 2006. The album features orchestrations and arrangements by Van Dyke Parks, engineering from Steve Albini, and mixing by Drag City label-mate Jim O'Rourke. On a road trip, Bill Callahan recommended she listen to the album Song Cycle by Parks, which led to his being chosen to arrange her work on Ys.The album Ys went on to rank 3rd in Pitchfork's Top Albums of 2006, and "Emily" the first track on the album was listed 9th on the website's Top Tracks of 2006. As well as this, the album scored 'perfect' reviews with The Guardian, The Observer, The Times, Uncut magazine and PopMatters.com, all of whom gave the album either a 5/5 or 10/10 review.During her 2007 fall tour, Newsom began performing a new as yet untitled 7-and-a-half-minute song. In January 2008, Newsom debuted another new composition in Sydney, Australia.I am just a fan. I'm happy to answer any questions that I can but unfortunately I do not have actual contact with Ms. Newson. If you have any further inquiries, please go to www.dragcity.com.
