Jolie Holland

Once a member of Canadian folk troupe the Be Good Tanyas, Jolie Holland set out to do her own thing, spawning a solo debut that won her the Best Americana Artist of 2003 award for the SF Weekly Music Awards. Her songs are haunting, ashen, pastoral folk musings that make Gillian Welch look like a smiling member of the New Main Street Singers from the film A Mighty Wind. Originally from Texas, Holland's prairie-sweet voice emits a deep southern drawl providing a contrast that works beautifully when set to the dark and desolate instrumentation of her recordings. Holland's stark songwriting paints pictures of a somber kind of Americana by pulling influences from Carter Family murder ballads and bucolic tones that would even wow Greil Marcus.