Anna Tivel
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Anna Tivel is an American
indie folk Indie folk (also called alternative folk) is an alternative genre of music that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Characteristics The staff of '' Paste Magazine'' said in 2020: "No music genre ...
artist from
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
, Oregon who is critically recognized as "one of the finest songwriters of her generation." She is noted for being a "masterful storyteller" with her music often compared to that of
Big Thief Big Thief is an American indie folk band formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2015. The lineup comprises vocalist-guitarist Adrianne Lenker, guitarist Buck Meek and drummer James Krivchenia. Founding bassist Max Oleartchik left the band in 2024 ...
's
Adrianne Lenker Adrianne Elizabeth Lenker (born July 9, 1991) is an American musician. She is the lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter of the band Big Thief, as well as an established solo artist. She has released several solo albums, including ''A ...
, as well as Elliot Smith and
Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...
. Frequently collaborating with engineer Brian Joseph (
Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...
,
Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...
) and producer Shane Leonard ( Mipso, Field Report), Tivel has released five studio albums of new original songs on the Portland-based label Fluff & Gravy Records and one with Mama Bird Recording Co. She also regularly records and releases alternative or acoustic versions of her past work. Tivel's NPR Tiny Desk concert premiered on May 22, 2023 with critic
Ann Powers Ann K. Powers (born February 4, 1964) is an American writer and popular music critic. She is a music critic for NPR and a contributor at the ''Los Angeles Times'', where she was previously chief pop critic. She has also written for other publicat ...
commenting, "Tivel's remarkable empathy elevates her folk-based, jazz-touched compositions from mere stories to secular prayers." Tivel’s upcoming seventh studio album ''Animal Poem'' was announced on June 17, 2025 and is set to release on August 29, 2025 via Fluff & Gravy Records.


Biography

Tivel was born in
La Conner, Washington La Conner is a town in Skagit County, Washington, United States with a population of 965 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Mount Vernon– Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. History La Conner was first sett ...
and grew up in a musical family, learning violin and
fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
as a child. After moving to Portland at age 18, she developed an interest in songwriting and began to write and perform her own material. Many of her songs are vignettes about the lives and struggles of ordinary people; she said in an interview, "I'm drawn over and over to the small stories of people (myself included) just trying to get by, to do a little better, to feel some sort of beauty in an ugly world." Her songs tend to unfold like short stories, filled with rich characters, vivid imagery, and emotional depth. She often writes from an observational, almost novelistic perspective, bringing characters and their inner worlds to life in just a few verses. Tivel's third album ''Small Believer'' was released on September 29, 2017 to positive reviews and named a "Top 10 underheard album of 2017" by
Ann Powers Ann K. Powers (born February 4, 1964) is an American writer and popular music critic. She is a music critic for NPR and a contributor at the ''Los Angeles Times'', where she was previously chief pop critic. She has also written for other publicat ...
of
NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...
. She followed it with ''The Question'' on April 19, 2019, which was called "one of the most ambitious folk records of 2019" by NPR and listed among "10 essential folk albums from 2019" by
Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is an American monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publi ...
. Later that year,
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
named Tivel as one of the best acts they saw at AmericanaFest in
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, writing, "In a week of countless songsmiths showcasing their attempt at that exact type of singer-songwriter storytelling, Tivel's winding, largely chorus-less tales shined and shimmered." On July 16, 2021, Tivel shared ''Blue World'', a compilation of re-recorded alternative versions of songs from her other albums. Tivel's breakout album ''Outsiders'' (released August 19, 2022) received multiple Best of Year accolades from
NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...
, including "Best Roots Music of 2022," "Best Songs of 2022" (for single "Black Umbrella"), "Ann Powers' Top Album of 2022," and "Bob Boilen's Favorite Music of 2022." Upon release, Ann Powers said on-air, "She's one of my absolute favorite songwriters living right now and I think this is her best record yet...Her writing on this record is at the level Paul Simon was at when he wrote 'The Boxer' and 'American Tune.'" ''Outsiders'' was also named among
Brooklyn Vegan ''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, before broadeni ...
's "15 Great Folk Albums from 2022",
Aquarium Drunkard ''Aquarium Drunkard'' is an online music magazine based in Los Angeles, California and launched in 2005 by Justin Gage, who chose the name "Aquarium Drunkard" based on a reference to a lyric written by the band Wilco. Along with its music revi ...
's 2022 Year in Review, and
Bandcamp Daily Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epi ...
's "The Best Country Music on Bandcamp." Roots music journal No Depression wrote in a review, "Tivel has many strengths and no flaws. She's one of the finest storytellers modern folk music has to offer, with lyrics so literary that it's tempting to think of her as a poet with an exceptional gift for playing guitar and singing." The album led to her NPR Tiny Desk debut on May 22, 2023. On May 31, 2024, Tivel released ''Living Thing'' via Fluff and Gravy Records, which gained praise from
KEXP KEXP-FM (90.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station in Seattle, Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in indie music programmed by its disc jockeys. KEXP's studios are located at the Seattle Cent ...
for expanding the sounds of her previous work: "...a beautiful collection of melodic folk-rock. ''Living Thing'' finds Tivel building upon her brand of folk music with richly layered guitar, violin, field recordings, keys and programmed loops with a pop sensibility to accompany her excellent storytelling." It was ranked the #1 album of 2024 by
Folk Alley WKSU (89.7 FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Kent, Ohio, featuring a public radio format. Owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media, WKSU's primary signal encompasses the Akron ...
, and
NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...
discussed the album on their New Music Friday broadcast, saying, "Anna Tivel continues her winning streak."
Nathaniel Rateliff Nathaniel David Rateliff (born October 7, 1978) is an American singer and songwriter based in Denver, Colorado, whose influences are described as folk, Americana and vintage rhythm & blues. Rateliff has performed with a backing band called the ...
reportedly hand-picked Tivel to perform at
Newport Folk Festival The Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival was founded by music promoter and Jazz Festival founder Geor ...
in July 2025. Tivel’s upcoming seventh studio album ''Animal Poem'' was announced on June 17, 2025 and is set to release on August 29, 2025 via Fluff & Gravy Records. Recorded live in a circle with some of her dearest friends, including fellow Portland artist and co-producer Sam Weber, the 10-track set was made in conversation: everyone together in the room, listening and responding in real time without the separation of walls and headphones. Of the album, Tivel has shared, "It’s hard to know how to hold a creative life in a time that feels fraught with venomous division, careening technological advance, and an ever widening chasm between the affluent and the dispossessed. What good are poems when affordable housing is scarce, the climate teeters on a dangerous edge, and war breaks out over misinformation spread by profit hungry algorithms?...Everyone here is living a creative life – teachers and parents, kids and convenience store clerks. We’re all tasting this wild existence, finding ways to express how much it hurts and moves us. This work is my own small addition to that communal story. The water we swim in. The way our attention molds our truths. Humanity is unfolding as we describe it. We’ll never get it right, but the attempt is everything."


Discography

* ''Brimstone Lullaby'' (2012) (as Anna and the Underbelly) * ''Before Machines'' (2014) * ''Heroes Waking Up'' (2016) * ''Small Believer'' (2017) * ''The Question'' (2019) * ''Blue World'' (2021) * ''Outsiders'' (2022) * ''Living Thing'' (2024)


Touring history

Anna Tivel has toured with or been direct support for artists that include
The Avett Brothers The Avett Brothers are an American folk rock band from Concord, North Carolina. The band is made up of two brothers, Scott Avett (banjo, lead vocals, guitar, piano, kick-drum) and Seth Avett (guitar, lead vocals, piano, hi-hat) along with Bob Cr ...
,
Watchhouse Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) is an Americana/folk duo based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group was formed in 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and consists of songwriter Andrew Marlin (vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo) and Emily ...
,
The Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are a United States band formed in Claremont, California, Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole me ...
,
Gregory Alan Isakov Gregory Alan Isakov (born October 19, 1979) is a South African-born American singer and songwriter currently based in Boulder, Colorado. Isakov and his family immigrated to the United States in 1986 and he was raised in Philadelphia. Isakov's m ...
,
Josh Ritter Joshua B. Ritter (born October 21, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author who performs and records with the Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana (music), Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2 ...
,
Blind Pilot Blind Pilot is an American indie folk band based in Portland, Oregon, United States. They have released four albums and one EP since 2008. History On July 15, 2008, Blind Pilot released their debut CD '' 3 Rounds and a Sound'' on Expunged Recor ...
,
Blitzen Trapper Blitzen Trapper is a Portland, Oregon-based experimental country/ folk/ rock band associated with Sub Pop Records, Vagrant Records, Lojinx, and Yep Roc. Formed in 2000, the band currently operates as a quartet, with Eric Earley (guitar/harmon ...
,
Christian Lee Hutson Christian Lee Hutson (born November 5, 1990) is an American singer, musician and songwriter. He began his career as a member of The Driftwood Singers, before signing to Anti- (record label), ANTI- as a solo artist in 2019. Hutson has since releas ...
, Fenne Lily, Andrew Marlin String Band,
The Weather Station The Weather Station is a Canadian folk music band fronted by Tamara Lindeman, formed in 2006. Band membership has changed over the years, but the lineup includes Lindeman (lead vocals, piano), Ben Whiteley (bass), Johnny Spence (keyboards), Wi ...
,
Willi Carlisle Willi Carlisle (born May 29, 1989) is an American folk singer-songwriter from Kansas, United States and based out of Arkansas, United States. His music pulls from traditional American folk music, Punk rock, punk music, and country music. Many o ...
,
Sam Amidon Samuel Tear Amidon (born June 3, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Early life Amidon's parents are folk artists Peter Amidon and Mary Alice Amidon. They were members of Bread and Puppet Theater in the 1970s ...
,
Joe Pug Joe Pug (born Joseph Pugliese, April 20, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter from Greenbelt, Maryland. He has released two EPs, as well as the albums ''Messenger'', '' The Great Despiser'', '' Windfall'', ''The Flood in Color'', and ''The Div ...
,
Courtney Marie Andrews Courtney Marie Andrews (born November 7, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter originally from Phoenix, Arizona. She released her first widely distributed and breakthrough studio album, '' Honest Life'', in 2016. From 2010 to 2011, Andrews was a ...
,
Bendigo Fletcher Bendigo Fletcher is an American indie folk band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 2016, and led by songwriter Ryan Anderson. History In 2018, Bendigo Fletcher released their first EP titled ''Consensual Wisdom''. In 2019, Bendigo Fletcher rele ...
,
Hayes Carll Joshua Hayes Carll (born January 9, 1976), known professionally as Hayes Carll, is an American singer-songwriter. A native of Houston, Texas, his style of country, folk, and roots-oriented songwriting is noted for his plain-spoken poetry and se ...
,
Sean Rowe Sean Walter Rowe (born February 16, 1975) is an American bishop who has served as the 28th Presiding Bishop and primate of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America since 2024.Mason Jennings Mason Jennings is an American folk-pop singer-songwriter. Biography Born in Hawaii, Jennings moved with his family to Pittsburgh at an early age. Jennings learned to play guitar at the age of 13, when he began writing songs. Jennings later dro ...
, Willie Watson, The Ballroom Thieves, Mipso, TK and the Holy Know Nothings,
Mary Gauthier Mary Veronica Gauthier ( ; born March 11, 1962) is a Grammy-nominated American folk singer-songwriter and author, whose songs have been covered by performers including Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Kathy Mattea, Boy George, Jimmy Buffett, Bettye La ...
,
Mick Flannery Mick Flannery (born 28 November 1983) is an Irish singer and songwriter. His debut album ''Evening Train'' resulted from his time spent studying music and management at Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa in Cork. It featured tracks which had previously ...
, and Jeffrey Martin. Notable Festivals at which Anna Tivel has performed: Rocky Mountain Folk Festival,
Edmonton Folk Festival The Edmonton Folk Music Festival (EFMF) is an annual four-day outdoor music event held the second weekend of August in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, established in 1980 by Don Whalen. and a core group of volunteers. The festival continues to draw man ...
, Calgary Folk Festival, Tønder Music Festival,
Telluride Bluegrass Festival Telluride Bluegrass Festival is an annual music festival in Telluride, Colorado hosted by Planet Bluegrass. Although traditionally the festival focuses on bluegrass music, it often features music from a variety of related genres. History The to ...
,
Pickathon Pickathon is an annual, three-day music festival taking place the first weekend of August at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon. Founded in 1999, the festival initially grew out of Portland, Oregon, Portland's Bluegrass music, bluegrass and ...
,
Treefort Music Fest Treefort Music Fest is a five-day indie rock festival held at several venues throughout downtown Boise, Idaho in late March. The inaugural festival took place from March 20–23, 2012, featuring Built to Spill, The Joy Formidable, Poliça, a ...
, Red Wing Roots,
Sisters Folk Festival The Sisters Folk Festival is an annual three-day roots music festival held in Sisters, Oregon, United States the weekend after Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated ...
,
Greenbelt Festival Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...
, Nowhere Else Festival, Doe Bay Music Fest, Timber Festival, Sawtooth Festival, and Wildwood Music Festival.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tivel, Anna American women singer-songwriters American folk singers Singers from Portland, Oregon Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women singers Americana musicians American indie folk musicians Singer-songwriters from Oregon