“The simplicity of it”: The albums that have guided Waxahatchee’s sound
Over the last decade or so, Katie Crutchfield has honed one of the most distinctive sounds in contemporary indie folk under the name Waxahatchee. Her unique vocals drive each track with their raw, knowing, country-inspired tones, while cosy guitar twangs and subtle percussion cushion her words. She’s become a reference point for up-and-coming women in the folk scene, who seek to emulate her honest sound through their own soft strums.
But before there was Waxahatchee, there was Joni Mitchell and Lucinda Williams, The Velvet Underground and Nico, entire generations of guitar-wielding songwriters who paved the way for modern folk artists to thrive. Crutchfield may now be one of the most influential figures in the scene, with her own inimitable sound, but she has been inspired by the work that came before her, taking inspiration from art-rock legends and pioneering lyricists.
Crutchfield shared a number of those formative influences during a conversation with Tidal, picking out five records that have inspired her over the course of her life and her career. The singer kicked things off with Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, which hit record store shelves in the late 1990s. Despite her initial resistance, Williams’ work had a real influence on Crutchfield, who admitted that it “really, really deeply affected” her.
It’s easy to feel this impact in Crutchfield’s own output as Waxahatchee. Like Williams, she allows her vocals to lean into country twangs, pairing them with gentle percussion and gorgeous guitar melodies. Waxahatchee’s sound could be seen as the modern answer to Williams, their discographies sitting side by side in folky bliss.
But Williams isn’t the only artist whose impact can be felt in Waxahatchee’s discography. Crutchfield also picked out Joni Mitchell’s Blue as one of the most influential albums she has listened to, even naming it “one of the greatest records of all time.” Crutchfield was particularly enthusiastic about Mitchell’s approach to lyric writing, acknowledging how it has guided her own work with a pen.
This is another influence that can easily be found in Waxahatchee’s catalogue. Mitchell is, perhaps, the single most influential songwriter in the folk realm. Her vulnerable approach to lyricism acts almost as a guiding star for budding songwriters with acoustic guitars in hand, while the genre-blending throughout her career shows experimentation sonically, too.
Waxahatchee’s other picks included the self-titled album by The Velvet Underground and Nico, which she praised for its minimalism. “I think we just really connected with it because of the melodies and simplicity of it,” she acknowledged, an element of which can still be found in her own sound. Guided by Voices also made the list with their 1995 record Alien Lanes, while Bill Fox rounds out the list with Shelter from the Smoke.
Ranging from early art-rock to folk icons to cult garage rock favourites, Crutchfield’s taste is wide-spanning while remaining truly palpable in her own sound. The melodies of The Velvet Underground, the vocal prowess of Williams, and the lyrical defiance and honesty of Mitchell each can be found within her own work as Waxahatchee, a melding of influences from across the years.
The result is a sound paying homage to the greats without sounding derivative. You don’t have to dig to find Crutchfield’s influences in her melodies or vocal intonations, but her work is also driven by her own experiences and intricacies, in turn influencing a whole new generation of songwriters.
