The Crane Wives

About The Crane Wives

The Crane Wives started in Grand Rapids, Michigan around 2010, which makes them part of that wave of folk bands that emerged when everyone was trying to figure out what came after the indie folk boom. Kate Pillsbury, Emilee Johannson, and Ben Zito formed the core, playing the kind of harmony-driven acoustic music that sounds deceptively simple until you actually try to write it.

Their early work had that scrappy DIY quality you'd expect from a Midwestern folk trio playing bars and coffee shops. The self-titled debut in 2010 and "The Fool in Her Wedding Gown" in 2012 established their template: literary lyrics, close harmonies, and arrangements that knew when to stay spare and when to build. They weren't reinventing anything, but they were doing it well.

"Coyote Stories" in 2015 marked a shift. The production got bigger, the instrumentation more varied, and the songwriting sharper. "Tongues & Teeth" from that album became the kind of song that shows up on people's breakup playlists years later. The band was figuring out how to keep the intimacy of folk music while adding enough texture to hold attention for a full album.

By "Foxlore" in 2016, they'd found their stride. The album balanced delicate fingerpicking with fuller band arrangements, and songs like "Curses" and "The Moon Will Sing" connected with listeners who wanted folk music that didn't feel too precious about being folk music. Dan Rickabus joined on guitar around this period, filling out their sound on recordings and live shows.

"Foxlore" ended up being their breakthrough, though it happened slowly through streaming rather than any single moment. The algorithm gods smiled on them, particularly on TikTok, where their songs found audiences who weren't necessarily folk fans but responded to the emotional directness of the writing. "The Moon Will Sing" has over 100 million streams on Spotify, which is a strange outcome for a folk song about longing that runs barely three minutes.

They released "Coyote Stories (2020 remaster)" because apparently the 2015 version needed another pass, and dropped singles throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s. Their sound has expanded to include more electric elements and percussion without abandoning what made them work initially. The harmonies are still the center of everything.

As of now, they're in that interesting position of being bigger online than their touring history might suggest. They've built an audience that found them through playlists and social media rather than the traditional indie folk channels. They're still based in Michigan, still writing songs about myths and relationships and the overlap between the two, and still adding members and collaborators as the arrangements demand it. The band keeps releasing music and playing shows for crowds who discovered them through their phones, which is just how these things work now.

Their shows have an almost theatrical quality. Audiences lean in rather than jump around, tracking every lyrical turn. The arrangement details translate beautifully live, and there's real chemistry between the two singers that makes you forget it's just two people on stage.

Known for Unraveling, Histories, The Witching Hour, Mockingbirds, Bloodhail

See The Crane Wives Live