Waxahatchee

About Waxahatchee

Waxahatchee is the project of Katie Crutchfield, a singer-songwriter from Alabama who's spent the past decade quietly becoming one of indie rock's most consistent voices. She started recording under the name in 2011 while living in an apartment building called Waxahatchee Creek in her home state, making lo-fi bedroom recordings that captured a specific kind of post-college uncertainty.

Her first album, American Weekend, came out in 2012 on Don Giovanni Records. Recorded in a week at her family home, it was raw and immediate, just Crutchfield's voice and guitar with minimal production. The songs were conversational and direct, dealing with breakups and hangovers and the general messiness of your early twenties. It got attention in DIY circles, but it wasn't trying to get attention, which was part of the appeal.

Cerulean Salt followed in 2013 and added a full band, though it kept that intimate quality. Songs like "Coast to Coast" and "Misery Over Dispute" showed Crutchfield developing as a songwriter, writing hooks that stuck without sacrificing honesty. The album expanded her audience beyond the house show circuit, landing on year-end lists and establishing Waxahatchee as more than a one-off bedroom project.

Ivy Tripp in 2015 pushed things further into full-band indie rock territory. It was heavier, more layered, dealing with sobriety and self-destruction. Then came Out in the Storm in 2017, her loudest and most aggressive record, recorded after a breakup and a move to New York. It was cathartic guitar rock, but the album felt like a cul-de-sac. She'd taken that sound as far as it could go.

So she reset. Saint Cloud in 2020 was a complete shift, trading distortion for twang and embracing the country and folk music she grew up with in Alabama. Recorded in Texas with producer Brad Cook, it featured pedal steel and piano, with songs about getting sober and reassessing her life. "Fire" and "Lilacs" felt like the work of someone who'd figured out what they actually wanted to say. The album arrived right as the pandemic hit and became a quiet success, Crutchfield's most critically acclaimed work.

She followed it with Tigers Blood in 2024, continuing in that country-inflected direction but looser and more confident. She's based in Kansas now, settled into a long-term relationship with songwriter Jess Williamson. They toured together and released a collaborative album as Plains in 2022.

Crutchfield has become the rare indie artist who got better with age, trading youthful urgency for hard-won perspective without losing any edge. She's not chasing trends or reinventing herself every album cycle. She's just writing better songs.

Shows are quiet enough that you notice when someone's phone goes off. Crutchfield commands attention without trying hard—just her and her guitar mostly, though the band versions feel bigger without losing that intimacy. Crowds tend toward the contemplative, people actually listening rather than talking through songs.

Known for Saint Cloud, Fire, Lilacs, Angels & Insects, Tennessee Whiskey

See Waxahatchee Live