Laura Pauline Veirs
(born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
.
She is known for her
folk and
alternative country
Alternative country (commonly abbreviated to alt-country; also known as alternative country rock, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative) is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that diffe ...
records and live performances as well as her collaboration with
Neko Case and
k.d. lang on the
case/lang/veirs project. Veirs has written a children's book and hosts a podcast about parenting and performing.
Early life and education
Veirs graduated from
General William J. Palmer High School in
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...
.
In 1997, Veirs graduated from
Carleton College
Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...
, where she was a geology major and studied
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...
.
During this time, she worked as a translator for a geological expedition in China.
Career
Growing up, Veirs heard folk-country,
classical, and pop music at home. However, accord to herself, she did not "listen seriously," until she was in her twenties.
At Carleton, she joined all-girl
punk band, Rair Kx! After graduation, her taste moved to older country and folk, and during her time in China she began writing lyrics.
In 1999, Veirs released her
eponymous debut studio album, which was recorded live and featuring just herself and guitar. 2003 saw the release of ''
Troubled by the Fire'', accompanied by veteran musicians such as
Bill Frisell. She then signed to
Nonesuch and released ''
Carbon Glacier'' (2004). She also signed to
Bella Union
Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde.
History
After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twin ...
for European distribution. ''
Year of Meteors'' followed in August 2005, and was selected by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' as a "critic's choice".
Veirs released her final studio album for Nonesuch, ''
Saltbreakers'', in 2007.
In January 2010, Veirs released ''
July Flame'' on her own Raven Marching Band Records.
The album received praise from ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' among other publications.
In November 2011, Veirs released the album ''Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs for Children''. The album presented mostly traditional songs, and featured an array of guest musicians, including
Colin Meloy,
Jim James and
Béla Fleck. ''Tumble Bee'' won a
Parents' Choice Award in 2012.
In September 2012, her first feature film soundtrack was released: ''Hello I Must Be Going'', for the
movie
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
of the same name. The exclusive soundtrack featured eight instrumental versions of previously released songs, five catalog favorites and one new vocal track, "Spring Song".
In August 2013, she released ''
Warp & Weft''. In 2015, she worked on the album ''
Carrie & Lowell'' by
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 ...
. Veirs' long term collaborator and then husband,
Tucker Martine
Tucker Martine (born January 14, 1972) is an American record producer, musician and composer. In 2010, ''Paste'' Magazine included Martine in their list of the 10 Best Producers of the Decade.
Early life
Tucker Martine, the son of singer and son ...
, engineered some of the album.
Veirs was lead songwriter for the 2016 album ''
case/lang/veirs'', a collaborative project between Veirs,
k.d. lang and Neko Case. The album received positive reviews and a
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
rating of 82.
In April 2018, she released her tenth studio album ''
The Lookout'' on her own label Raven Marching Band in North American and
Bella Union
Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde.
History
After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twin ...
in the rest of the world. It was a concept album about the fragility of precious things. It featured contributions from
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 ...
,
Jim James and was produced by Tucker Martine. Earlier, in January 2018, she had launched a podcast, ''Midnight Lightning'', about the lives of musician parents. The first season featured weekly interviews with 14 mother musicians such as
Corin Tucker (
Sleater-Kinney),
Carol Kaye,
Rosanne Cash,
Rhiannon Giddens,
Meshell Ndegeocello,
Amanda Bergman among others. In early 2018,
Chronicle Books published her first picture book, ''Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten''.
A story about the influential American folk and
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
musician
Elizabeth Cotten (aka "Libba") it was illustrated by
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. ''Libba'' was a
Junior Library Guild selection and received the
Parents' Choice Award.
On
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...
2020, Veirs released the song "I Was a Fool", exploring her divorce. In July, her eleventh studio album ''
My Echo'' was made available for
pre-order with a scheduled release in October. Veirs continued to write and record, finishing most of an album's worth of material by the time, ''
My Echo'', was released.
In 2022, Veirs co-produced her first studio album ''
Found Light'' with Shahzad Ismaily.
''
Phone Orphans'', an album of
demos that Veirs recorded on her
iPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
, was released in 2023. In the same year she recorded a live album at a show at
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
's The Owl Parlor. It was released 2024, called ''Laura Veirs and Her Band – Live in Brooklyn.'' It featured her band mates Shahzad Ismaily, Sam Amidon, Karl Blau and Charlotte Greve.
Veirs was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in October, 2024.
Touring band members
* Laura Veirs – vocals, guitar, banjo
* Eli Moore – bass, guitar, synthesizers
*
Eyvind Kang – viola
* Karl Blau – guitar, bass, saxophone, keyboards, vocals
*
Steve Moore – piano, keyboards, bells,
euphonium, vocals
Production

Tucker Martine was a producer on many of the albums including ''Carbon Glacier, Year of Meteors,'' ''Saltbreakers'', ''July Flame'', ''Tumble Bee and'' ''Warp & Weft''.
Raven Marching Band Records
Veirs runs a record label, Raven Marching Band Records, that has released her own and other artists' music. In 2016, the label released ''
Introducing Karl Blau'', which was crowdfunded.
Style
In 2007, Veirs said about her lyrics, "I like to be personal in my writing, but not overly confessional."
Many of her lyrics are inspired by literary works. The song "Saltbreakers" on her sixth studio album ''
Saltbreakers'' (2007) was partially inspired by
A. S. Byatt's ''
Possession'' (1990). Another song on the same album, "Don't Lose Yourself", was partially inspired by
José Saramago's novel, ''
Blindness
Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...
'' (1995).
T. S. Eliot was an inspiration for the song "Margaret Sands" on ''The Lookout''.
Personal life
Veirs lives in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
. Around 2000, Veirs married Tucker Martine, who has collaborated with her musically. Veirs and Martine had two children,
born 2010 and 2013. In November 2019, Veirs announced she and Martine were divorcing.
In the summer of 2024, Veirs announced her engagement to Reed College music professor and ethnomusicologist Morgan Luker.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
Laura Veirs'' (1999)
* ''
The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae'' (2001)
* ''
Troubled by the Fire'' (2003)
* ''
Carbon Glacier'' (2004)
* ''
Year of Meteors'' (2005)
* ''
Saltbreakers'' (2007)
* ''
July Flame'' (2010)
* ''
Tumble Bee'' (2011)
* ''
Warp & Weft'' (2013)
* ''
case/lang/veirs'' (2016)
(with case/lang/veirs)
* ''
The Lookout'' (2018)
* ''
My Echo'' (2020)
* ''
Found Light'' (2022)
* ''
Phone Orphans'' (2023)
Works and publications
*
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Raven Marching Band Records– record label
Laura Veirsat
Bella Union Records
* – podcast
case/lang/veirs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veirs, Laura
1973 births
Living people
American women singer-songwriters
Carleton College alumni
Musicians from Colorado Springs, Colorado
Singers from Portland, Oregon
Place of birth missing (living people)
Singer-songwriters from Oregon
21st-century American singer-songwriters
21st-century American women singers
Bella Union artists
Nonesuch Records artists
Singer-songwriters from Colorado
American people of Latvian descent