Joanna Newsom Overview

It may seem that Joanna Newsom would make it easy for others to dismiss or codify her among other largely mocked sorts – her voice is unusual, her lyrics often entrenched in worlds of fable-like precision and peculiarities – but she utilizes her singing and song-writing abilities with such tremendous, confident force that to deny her music close listening would be denying oneself access to otherwise rarely felt emotional nuances of quotidian human existence.  Her voice drives many away for its sheer and idiosyncratic approach to articulation, but through her unusual explorations of pitch she quite acutely, often achingly, proves herself capable of capturing a wider breadth of meaning and signification than most singers who relegate their voices to more traditional terrains.  Her lyrics flirt with the precious and twee, but extract from their sources moments and sensations so piercing that one wonders if such particular heights could have been reached through other means.  She is a singular artist, of the rare sort who makes those who love her feel uniquely lucky to have her work in their lives.