Graceful Explosions: 12 Female Folk Artists on the Rise

Folk music is one of the genres that threw open its double doors to female musicians long ago, and the resulting artists have produced some of the most powerful music of the last decades. Fortunately, female artists have begun to populate genres that they were previously denied admission to with increasing frequency, but their impact on folk remains integral.

Classic artists like Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Joan Baez ushered in political and social change through some spectacular songs, but time marches on, and so does music, bringing with it fresh, new voices who have their own take on old folk traditions.

From artists riffing on the traditional acoustic sounds all the way through the various worlds of electric guitar, breathy synths and the depths of doom-soul, here are eleven of the most precocious, talented and creative female folk musicians on the scene. Watch for these ladies, they’re on their way up.

Hometown: Coquille, Oregon

Most Recent Release: La Grande

Sounds Like: A barbed wire fence around a rose garden.

With campfires and covered wagons rolled into the rolling beats and ragtime piano licks, Laura Gibson effectively transports us back to the frontier on her third full-length record, 2012's La Grande. The now Portland-based singer is a native Oregonian, raised in an little-known corner of the state, and named this album after an inconspicuous town in the beautiful Northwest state. If nothing else, the feel of Oregon runs through this record like a thread, the expansive openness dotted with tiny guitar licks and almost abrasive percussion. The soundscape of the record mimics the landscape of Oregon with compelling accuracy—a feat that reflects Gibsons' dedication to the music and her ability to act as a conduit for her surroundings. Look for more releases from this young folk artist, possibly even as early as this year.

Hometown: Littleton, Colorado

Most Recent Release: Deer Creek Canyon

Sounds Like: A rediscovered hope-chest.

After stints with Northwest staples like Carissa's Wierd and Band of Horses, Sera Cahoone struck off on her own trail, and thank God that she did. Previously a drummer, Cahoone's mossy voice lent itself perfectly to a folk solo project. She self-released her first, self-titled album in 2005, which was eventually picked up by Seattle underground powerhouse label Sub Pop, and has since released two more records through them. Her latest, Deer Creek Canyon came out late last year and is already picking up steam as a step above her initial solo forays. Citing influences as diverse as Buck Owens and Cat Power, Cahoone strikes a balance between assertive frontwoman with tales to tell and retiring wallflower narrating her lonely moods. Gaining momentum, confidence, and technical precision, Cahoone is on the cusp of climbing out of her canyon and letting the current sweep her into the mainstream.

Hometown: Halifax, Nova Scotia

Most Recent Release: Spectators

Sounds Like: Lucinda Williams in a prom dress.

This Canadian singer began to gain momentum in her musical career around 2006, with her release War Brides, which was picked up by the label Six Shooter Records, and Amelia Curran has continued to build her sound since. The subsequent release of Hunter Hunter and 2012's Spectators on the label have seen vast growth in her sound and songwriting—the latest record feels like a solidified combination of her early, honky-tonk phrasing style and a later slowed-down elocution. Her poetry is compelling, revealing and wistful, sometimes her voice trembles or stumbles over certain words, the intimacy of her writing strikes like a hot iron at times. But Curran isn't at all a bumbling songstress or weak creator, her strength comes through on tracks like "Strangers" or 2009's stand-out "All Hands on a Grain of Sand" which manages to encompass the tiniest and largest spectrums of life, and all that lies between. Look for big things from this entrancing songwriter in the next few months and years.

Hometown: Dublin, Ireland

Most Recent Release: Passenger

Sounds Like: A cross-stitched scene of the seaside hanging in coastal cottage.

Lisa Hannigan began her musical career as a collaborator with Damien Rice, so the Irish-based singer had fertile soil to grow her own solo efforts in. After ending her professional relationship with Rice in 2007, Hannigan went on to release her debut album See Sew in 2008 to critical acclaim, including two Mercury prize nominations, and a spot as the opening act for Jason Mraz on his U.S. tour. Hannigan's voice is at once spidery and undulating—it creeps, but in a good way. She called her 2011 offering Passenger which is a name that subtly sums up her vocal stylings— she passes like a shadow through the strings and slight drums of tracks like "Paper House" and her duet with Ray LaMontagne, "O Sleep." Hannigan lays claim to the passenger side with clear intentions though, often the side-seat offers a perspective the driver may miss, and her careful observations reveal a singer-songwriter on the brink of great things.

Hometown: Toronto, Ontario

Most Recent Release: I Predict a Graceful Expulsion

Sounds Like: A snowflake melting on your skin.

Al Spx slid over the surface of 2012 like a hot coal along a snowdrift. Under the moniker Cold Specks, Spx has effectively created a category of sound that feels original, that I feel unable to identify—that is a victory. Part soul, part folk and part utter sadness, the music Spx makes never feels like a loss, even when it details heartbreak and suffering. Though she's only 23, the Canadian singer seems to prophecy in her music, relating wisdom and insight far beyond the scope of a girl in her twenties. She self-describes her sound as "doom soul" but even amidst all the dark, doomsday poetry there is no real gloom here, merely a deeply expressed sadness that, nevertheless, points back to the burning heart of its creator. Watch this one, she's actually altering the surface of music with her fiery missives.

Hometown: St. Paul, Minnesota, Santa Cruz, California, Brooklyn, New York

Most Recent Release: Made the Harbor

Sounds Like: A dreamcatcher hanging on a porch.

When the Appalachian harmonies of folk trio Mountain Man first hit back in 2009, the music industry was just as rocked as a buffalo herd overrun by a hunter. The insanely harmonic, sugar-spun voices of Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath dip and wheel in whorls around each other and the melody of the song with uncanny precision. The three met while attending Bennington College in Vermont, and were quickly signed to Partisan records, who released their debut and only full-length album Made the Harbor in 2010. The girls toured with Feist in 2011, an opportunity that led to a lot of exposure for the trio, but 2013 will undoubtedly be an important year for the folk musicians. At least I hope it will be—I've listened to "Mouthwings" so many times that it neither speaks nor flies like it used to (below).

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

Most Recent Release: Eddi Front EP

Sounds Like: Diary pages swept by wind, found by an unsuspecting passerby.

For a girl who seems to be slight, gauzy-voiced and delicate, Eddi Front has to reveal her strength upfront to prove this image wrong. She isn't a girl, 27-year-old Ivana Carrescia has been through the wringer, at least that's what one assumes after hearing the fragility in her dark, fatalistic ballads. With only a four song EP out through Best Fit Recordings last year, Front still managed to garner a buzz of attention from the musical community. From "Gigantic" which surreptitiously addresses the painful topic of divorce, to the minor piano riff repetition and staked out brass section in "Superhero Style" Front quickly reveals that she is no newcomer to jazz, noirish ballads and self-effacing jabs at ex-lovers. From the sounds of her sweeping, serious yet playful first EP, Eddi is just getting started.

Hometown: Westport, Connecticut

Most Recent Release: Grown Unknown

Sounds Like: A garden singing to the sun.

Lia Ices has the face and the voice of an angel, but that isn't the only reason her debut album Necima caught the attention of Jagjaguwar and Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon. Jag put out her sophomore effort Grown Unknown in 2010 and the album even features Vernon's crowning croon on the track "Daphne." Listening to her second full-length, is akin to walking through the enclosed walls of Mary Lennox's private sanctuary in The Secret Garden. The Connecticut-bred singer born Lia Kessel manages to capture the fairy-like ethereal sounds of folk greats like Joanna Newsom but imbues them with a smoothed-out, glossy finish that doesn't feel shellacked, merely shiny. Look for new material from Lia soon, odds are this year will catapult her into the spotlight.

Hometown: Long Island, New York

Most Recent Release: Sit Resist

Sounds Like: The last night before you leave your hometown forever.

Laura Stevenson has music in her blood—the singer is descendant from Harry Simeone, the man behind both "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?" But as is the case with most young talents related to seminal writers, Stevenson is seeking to carve out her own space in the musical landscape, eschewing anything seasonal. After working with the group Bomb The Music Industry!, Laura eventually put together her own band—Laura and the Cans—who released A Record in 2010 and then signed to New Jersey-based label Don Giovanni Records. In 2011 their debut for Giovanni was released, Sit Resist, and in January it was announced that the followup Wheel will come out on April 23 of this year. Laura marries the traditional aspects of folk music with modernity in a way that recalls the likes of Bon Iver and Sharon Van Etten. Keep an eye out for her new album, it feels auspicious.

Hometown: Kent, Ohio

Most Recent Release: Tell Me

Sounds Like: A ghostly guitar solo in an empty room.

Pressing 100 copies of her debut record White Lies and releasing it under the artist name Chittlin' were Jessica Lea Mayfield's first moves as a musician. So she was probably just as shocked as anyone else when Dan Auerbach got his hands on a copy. It's easy to see why The Black Keys frontman was intrigued by her initial offering—it feels original and fully-formed even as a first effort—addressing lined topics like lovesickness by adding new creases to the well-worn conversations on rejection, denial and loneliness. Mayfield adds more of a country feel to folk–which has been skewing a bit more indie rock of late—dragging her voice through the words like a broom upsetting a dust pile. Her last album, Tell Me, came in 2010, so she's long overdue to release a brand new record and hopefully it will be this year. For now, check out the Brian Jonestown Massacre cover of "(David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six" that she did with Auerbach for the movie Apart.

Hometown: San Francisco, California

Most Recent Release: Jessica Pratt

Sounds Like: A blanket hand-knit in your favorite colors.

Jessica Pratt appeared on the edge of last year like a long-awaited sunset. Her debut, self-titled record felt like an undiscovered gem from the '60s, but somehow it managed to escape the despairing edge of nostalgia and trickle into new territory. It feels like authentic folk, done in the old style, but without the sad attempt to actually live in the past still. Pratt's record was released on the brand new label Birth Records, which is run by White Fence's Tim Presley. Presley has been famously claiming all over the internet that the only reason he started the label at all was to put out this record—and after one listen it is easy to see why. There's still very little information about Pratt circulating the internet, and even less is known about her life prior to this first record, but 2013 will assuredly contain new music from the singer.

Hometown: Portland, Oregon

Most Recent Release: Alela Diane & Wild Divine

Sounds Like: A songbird that learned electric guitar.

If the name Alela Diane & Wild Divine sounds like a hyperbolic name for a band, consider that the group is composed of Alela herself, her husband and her dad. What could be more perfect than touring the country, creating delicately robust folk songs with the two men you love the most literally supporting you? Just in case you had any qualms about her folksy chops, Alela has been around since 2003, quietly honing and focusing her sounds. She toured with Fleet Foxes in summer of 2011 to support her fifth studio album which she named Alela Diane & Wild Divine after her newly formed family-centric band. The singer is planning a release for 2013 called About Farewell and it looks like the record is a solo work—sans band. After a divorce, Alela is back on her own, and sounds more angelic than ever. Sometimes the crushed flower yields more than a blooming one ever could. She shared the first single from her forthcoming album this week, and if "The Way We Fall" is just the beginning, we'll all be head over heels by the time this record comes out.