How Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield found her sound on Tigers Blood
CBC Arts | Posted: July 8, 2024 6:49 PM | Last Updated: January 2
In a Q interview, the singer-songwriter talks about her collaboration with MJ Lenderman
When the time came for Katie Crutchfield — better known as Waxahatchee — to record her widely acclaimed new album, Tigers Blood, she returned to her trusted producer Brad Cook, who had helped her find an Americana-inspired sound on her 2020 album, Saint Cloud.
Crutchfield got her start playing in punk bands with her twin sister Allison, so her turn to folk music was a big transition. She and Cook hunkered down in the studio and got to work trying to conjure that magic again for Tigers Blood.
It wasn't until a young musician named MJ Lenderman (also known as Jake Lenderman) came to play electric guitar on the album's lead single, Right Back To It, that Crutchfield realized exactly what vibe she wanted for the rest of the album. She asked him to stay and collaborate with her and the rest is history.
"I had met Jake once before that and I was just so obsessed with [his 2022 solo album] Boat Songs," Crutchfield tells Q's Tom Power. "I listened to it over and over again and was just baffled that this young guy who's like 10 years younger than me is making this music that's influenced by everything I love."
Hailing from North Carolina, Lenderman is a rising indie-rock star who's also known for his role as a guitarist in the band Wednesday. Crutchfield says his music sounds like Drive-By Truckers or Sparklehorse, with a voice like the late Jason Molina and an "unbelievable amount of personality." He plays electric guitar on all of Tigers Blood's 11 songs and sings harmonies on four.
"I sang him a harmony, trying to direct him on what to sing, and he was like, 'Great. Got it,'" Crutchfield recalls. "He went in the room and just sang something totally different, but I loved what he did…. Once we had that, it was kind of like, 'All right, we got to chase this. We got to chase this feeling.'"
WATCH | Official video for Right Back to It (feat. MJ Lenderman):
The full interview with Waxahatchee is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. She also talks about her move from punk rock to country music, how getting sober changed her songwriting and why she's feeling more comfortable on stage than ever before. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Waxahatchee produced by Cora Nijhawan.