Jessica Pratt | Artist

Jessica Pratt is an American singer-songwriter born 1987 in Redding, California. Her sound spans the genres of 60s folk, California classic rock, and new-age freak folk. She is compared to various folk artists of the past, including Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Sibylle Baier, David Crosby and Karen Dalton. But far from being copy-cat, there is a haunted elegance in her subtle yet sublime songs of acoustic guitar and layered, reverb-heavy vocals. Pratt was raised by her mother, who exposed her to a broad range of artists, including Tim Buckley, X, and the Gun Club. She learned to play the guitar by the age of 15, by practicing the 1971 T.Rex album Electric Warrior. She was soon able to play the guitar parts of the whole record, and eventually began recording songs at the age of 16, using her mother's Fender guitar amp and microphone. Pratt came into the public eye with her 2012 self-titled debut album consisting of mostly low-key recordings of Pratt's voice and simple acoustic guitar accompaniment. Her second album 2015's On Your Own Love Again, while still in the introspective soft-dreamy vein of the debut, was a more sophisticated affair which began to attract attention. She rose to acclaim for her albums with indie labels Drag City and Mexican Summer, and branched out from the hushed folk minimalism of 2019's Quiet Signs to the more ornate, Pet Sounds-inspired arrangements of 2024's excellent Here in the Pitch. When describing her early influences, Pratt quoted in an interview "There are a few key artists I was listening to a lot and trying to channel. Scott Walker, latter period Judy Garland, Karin Krog, who was a Scandinavian jazz singer, and Steve Kuhn, a jazz guy who did a solo record where he sings. The unifying theme is a world-weary crooner situation, but also people with very unique, idiosyncratic voices."

Artist Website: dragcity/jessica-pratt

Featured Albums: Jessica Pratt