Laura Veirs
Laura Pauline Veirs (born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based out of Portland, Oregon. She is known for her folk/alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with Neko Case 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 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. Growing up, Veirs heard folk-country, classical, and pop music at home; however, she didn't "listen seriously," she says, until her 20s. At Carleton, she joined all-girl punk 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 . She then signed to Nonesuch and released "Carbon Glacier". She also signed to Bella Union 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 last full-length for Nonesuch, "Saltbreakers", in 2007. In January 2010, Veirs released "July Flame" on her own Raven Marching Band Records. The album received praise from the "Washington Post" among other publications. In November 2011, Veirs released the album "Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs for Children". The album presents mostly traditional songs, and features an array  of guest musicians, including Colin Meloy, Jim James and Bela Fleck. "Tumble Bee" won a Parents' Choice Award in 2012. In September 2012, her first feature film soundtrack was released: "Hello I Must Be Going". The exclusive soundtrack features 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 and Lowell" by Sufjan Stevens. Veirs' long term collaborator Tucker Martine 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 rating of 82. In April 2018, she released her 10th studio album "The Lookout" on her own label Raven Marching Band in North American and Bella Union in the rest of the world. It is a concept album about the fragility of precious things. It features contributions from Sufjan Stevens, Jim James and was produced by Tucker Martine. In January 2018, she launched a podcast, "Midnight Lightning", about the lives of musician parents. The first season features weekly interviews with 14 mother musicians such  as Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney), Carol Kaye (legendary bassist), Rosanne Cash, Rhiannon Giddens, Meshell Ndegeocello, Amanda Bergman (Swedish artist) and more. Also in early 2018 Chronicle Books published her first picture book, "Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten". It's a story about folk music legend Elizabeth Cotten (aka "Libba") and was illustrated by NYC-based artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. "Libba" was a Junior Library Guild selection and received the Parents' Choice Award. On Valentine's Day 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 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. Band members. 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 the 2007 record "Saltbreakers" was partially inspired by A. S. Byatt's "Possession". Another song on the same album, "Don't lose yourself", was partially inspired by Jose Saramago's novel, "Blindness". T.S. Eliot was an inspiration for the song "Margaret Sands" on "The Lookout". Personal life. Veirs lives in Portland, Oregon. Circa 2000, Veirs married Tucker Martine, who has collaborated with her musically. The couple has two children born 2010 and 2013. In November  2019, Veirs announced she and Martine were divorcing.