Marisa Anderson
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Marisa Anderson is an American guitarist and composer 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 primarily known for mixing
American primitive guitar American primitive guitar is a fingerstyle guitar music genre, developed by the American guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s. While the term "American primitivism" has been used as a name for the genre, American primitive guitar is distinct f ...
with various genres from throughout the United States and the rest of the world, and for her largely
improvised Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...
compositions. Though primarily known for playing acoustic and electric guitars, she has also played keyboards and other instruments on her albums. Anderson grew up in
Sonoma, California Sonoma () is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma' ...
, and after dropping out of college, travelled around the United States and Mexico for several years before settling in Portland. She has released 11 albums under her own name since 2006, including two collaborative albums with Jim White and one each with Tashi Dorji and William Tyler. She was also previously a member of the bands the Dolly Ranchers and Evolutionary Jass Band, releasing multiple albums with each act. She has toured with all three collaborators, as well as with acts such as
Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
,
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock collective that originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation Records (Canada), Constellation, an in ...
, and
Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...
.


Early life

Anderson was born in Northern California and grew up in Sonoma. When she was young, she listened to
church music Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian musi ...
and classical with her mother, and
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
– notably
Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. He won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His ...
and
the Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American vocal quartet. The classic and most well-known lineup of the group, which performed together for over 40 years, consisted of William Lee Golden (baritone), Duane Allen (lead), Richard Sterban (bass), and Joe ...
– with her father. She started playing guitar at age ten. In her teen and young adult years, she took lessons from fellow California guitarist
Nina Gerber Nina Gerber is an American guitarist who first came to attention when she accompanied singer-songwriter Kate Wolf from 1979 until Wolf's death in 1986. Gerber was born and raised in Sebastopol, California Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma ...
. A self-described "weird teenager", she learned about various styles of
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
from different parts of the world – including Mississippi Delta blues,
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
, African, and
Appalachian music Appalachian music is the music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. Traditional Appalachian music is derived from various influences, including the ballads, hymns and fiddle music of the British Isles (particularly Scotland), ...
– by reading books from
folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...
Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England dur ...
. She attended
Humboldt State University California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt or Humboldt) is a public university in Arcata, California. It is one of Cal Poly (disambiguation), three polytechnic universities in the California State University (CSU) sys ...
before dropping out at age 19.


Career

After dropping out of college, Anderson spent about ten years living without a fixed address. Most of this time was spent organizing and participating in political protests, including multiple cross-country walks which raised awareness for causes including
environmental issues Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recov ...
, Native American sovereignty, and the
anti-nuclear movement The Anti-nuclear war movement is a new social movements, social movement that opposes various nuclear technology, nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified them ...
. Some of this time was spent in Mexico, including a stint with a circus where she played for the anti-government guerrillas protesting during the
Chiapas conflict The Chiapas conflict (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Conflicto de Chiapas'') consisted of the Zapatista uprising, 1994 Zapatista uprising, the 1995 Zapatista Crisis, 1995 Zapatista crisis, and the subsequent tension between the Federal government o ...
in Southern Mexico. She was a member of the country-folk band the Dolly Ranchers from 1997 through 2003, playing on both of their albums and at their four-sets-a-night gig at a cowboy bar in
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
. She also worked at Rock Camp for Girls between 2003 and 2011, and contributed to its eponymous book. She settled in Portland, Oregon, after traveling to the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
for the
1999 Seattle WTO protests The 1999 Seattle WTO protests, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Seattle, were a series of anti-globalization protests surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, where members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened at the ...
. In Portland, she joined the
improvisational Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...
ensemble Evolutionary Jass Band for six years, recording three albums. Her first solo album, ''Holiday Motel'', was released by 16 Records in 2006, and earned her a nomination for the OUTMusic Award for Best Female Debut Record. That album was followed by 2009's ''The Golden Hour'' and 2013's ''Mercury'', both released by
Mississippi Records Mississippi Records is a record store and label. It was founded by Eric Isaacson in 2003 in Portland, Oregon. It also houses a café, equipment repair shop, and the Portland Museum of Modern Art. Brick and mortar store The name Mississippi ...
; and another 2013 album, ''Traditional and Public Domain Songs'', which was released by Grapefruit Records. In 2014, she appeared as a guest musician on
Sharon Van Etten Sharon Katharine Van Etten (born February 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress. Originally from New Jersey, and currently based in Los Angeles, Van Etten's music is noted for its indie rock aesthetic and personal lyric ...
's ''
Are We There ''Are We There'' is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten. It was released on May 27, 2014 via Jagjaguwar. Packaging Of the lack of a question mark in the album's title, Van Etten said it was "… open- ...
'', playing guitar on its first track "Afraid of Nothing". In 2015, she released a split album, ''Tashi Dorji / Marisa Anderson'', with
Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
-born guitarist Tashi Dorji, which was released by Footfalls Records. The year after, she released '' Into the Light'' on her own label Chaos Kitchen Music. On October 31, 2017, she announced that she had signed to
Thrill Jockey Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago. History Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...
, with whom she released her next four albums: 2018's '' Cloud Corner''; 2020's '' The Quickening'', a collaboration with Australian drummer Jim White; 2021's '' Lost Futures'', a collaboration with American folk guitarist William Tyler; and 2022's '' Still, Here''. Anderson had a cameo appearance alongside fellow Oregon musician Michael Hurley in the 2018 film ''
Leave No Trace Leave No Trace, sometimes written as LNT, is a set of ethics promoting conservation of the outdoors. Originating in the mid-20th century, the concept started as a movement in the United States in response to ecological damage caused by wilderne ...
'' where they performed the songs "O My Stars" and "Dark Holler". She has also composed for films including 2022's ''Lake Forest Park'' and '' A Perfect Day for Caribou''. Anderson has toured and played live with numerous artists, including her album collaborators Tashi Dorji, William Tyler, and Jim White, as well as Yasmin Williams, Giorgos Xylouris,
Ed Kuepper Edmund Kuepper (born 20 December 1955) is a German-born Australian guitarist, Singing, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the punk band The Saints (Australian band), The Saints in 1973, the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns (acti ...
, Circuit des Yeux,
Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
,
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock collective that originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation Records (Canada), Constellation, an in ...
,
Charlie Parr Charlie Parr (born 1967) is an American country blues musician. Born in Austin, Minnesota, he spent part of his childhood in Hollandale before starting his music career in Duluth. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary ...
, Bill Callahan, and
Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...
. She has performed at music festivals including
Big Ears Festival The Big Ears Festival is an annual music festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. The 2009, 2010 and 2014-2019 editions were produced by AC Entertainment. The festival incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2016 and has been independent ...
, ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
''s Midwinter at the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
,
Le Guess Who? Le Guess Who? is a Dutch music festival featuring different music genres: from avant-garde, jazz, hip hop, electronic, experimental, noise rock, indie rock, world music and others. This festival was founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen. It ...
, and
Moogfest Moogfest was a music and technology festival held annually or bi-annually in Durham, North Carolina, that honors engineer Robert Moog and his musical inventions. It was originally held in New York, New York, and then, after a brief hiatus, it m ...
. She also performed on
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 ...
's
Tiny Desk Concerts ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of former ''All Songs Considered'' host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. The first ''Tiny Desk Concert'' came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music edit ...
series in 2014, mostly playing songs from ''Traditional and Public Domain Songs'' and ''Mercury''. On March 5, 2024, Anderson and White announced their second collaborative album, '' Swallowtail'', and released its lead single "Bitterroot Vally Suite I: Water". The album was recorded in
Point Lonsdale Point Lonsdale is a town on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. The town is divided between the Borough of Queenscliffe and the City of Greater Geelong. Point Lonsdale is also one of the headlands which, with Poin ...
, Australia, and was released on May 10 by Thrill Jockey. The same year, Anderson appeared on
Big Brave Big Brave (stylized as BIG , BRAVE) is a Canadian heavy, experimental band formed in 2012 in Montreal. The members are guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie, guitarist Mathieu Ball, and drummer Tasy Hudson. While Wattie and Ball are original members, ...
's album '' A Chaos of Flowers'', providing guitar for the song "Canon: In Canon".


Style

Anderson's music has been described as falling into the
American primitive guitar American primitive guitar is a fingerstyle guitar music genre, developed by the American guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s. While the term "American primitivism" has been used as a name for the genre, American primitive guitar is distinct f ...
style introduced by John Fahey in the 1960s, and she has been called a "neo-
Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...
guitar outsider". She mixes in influences from various other genres such as
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
, country, Appalachian folk and blues,
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
,
circus music Circus music (also known as carnival music) is any sort of music that is played to accompany a circus, and also music written that emulates its general style. Popular music would also often get arranged for the circus band, as well as waltzes, fox ...
,
minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...
,
electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...
,
drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...
, and 20th century classical, while also including
global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...
influences such as
Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...
and
Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...
on ''Cloud Corner'' and
flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...
on ''Still, Here''. On some albums, her music is also referred to as
experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
. She is known to
improvise Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...
music rather than compose it on many of her recordings, including the entirety of her album ''The Quickening''. On the subject, she has said she likes "to think about improvisation as a conversation" and that it's "really just an art at being literate and expressive no matter what language you are in... I am trying to be very present with the music and to make my intention realized with every performance." When asked in an interview how she got into improvisation, she said


Equipment

Anderson's main instrument is the guitar, both acoustic and
electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
, but she has also employed other instruments across her albums such as
lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...
,
pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...
, and
Wurlitzer electronic piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...
on ''Into the Light''; and
charango The charango is a small Andes, Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua people, Quechua and Aymara people, Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments we ...
and requinto guitar on ''Cloud Corner''. Her instrument collection also includes a
Dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...
from the 1930s, a terz guitar, a nylon-string
parlor guitar Parlor or parlour guitar usually refers to a type of acoustic guitar smaller than a Size No.0 Concert Guitar by C. F. Martin & Company. ''Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms'' describes the term as referring to "any guitar that is ...
, a custom Warmoth
Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...
with
Lollar Lollar () is a town in the district of Gießen, in Hesse, in west-central Germany. It is situated on the river Lahn, 7 km north of Gießen. The biggest production site of Bosch Thermotechnology is located in Lollar. During World War II, i ...
P-90
guitar pickups The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with some exceptions) and typically has six or twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the d ...
, and a
Gibson ES-125 The Gibson ES-125 is an archtop, hollow body electric guitar model that was produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. Model history Introduced in 1941 as the successor to the ES-100, the ES-125 was an entry-level archtop electric guitar. It had ...
from the early 1940s.


Discography


Solo

Albums * ''Holiday Motel'' (2006, 16 Records) * ''The Golden Hour'' (2009,
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
) * ''Mercury'' (2013, Mississippi) * ''Traditional and Public Domain Songs'' (2013,
Grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The flesh of the fruit is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark red. Grapefru ...
) * ''Tashi Dorji / Marisa Anderson'' (2015, Footfalls, with Tashi Dorji) * '' Into the Light'' (2016, Chaos Kitchen) * '' Cloud Corner'' (2018,
Thrill Jockey Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago. History Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...
) * '' The Quickening'' (2020, Thrill Jockey, with Jim White) * '' Lost Futures'' (2021, Thrill Jockey, with William Tyler) * '' Still, Here'' (2022, Thrill Jockey) * '' Swallowtail'' (2024, Thrill Jockey, with Jim White) Singles * "Into the Light" (2016, ''Into the Light'') * "He Is Without His Guns" (2016, ''Into the Light'') * "
You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for the 1943 film '' Something to Shout About'', where it was introduced by Janet Blair and Don Ameche. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original S ...
" (2020, Jealous Butcher Records, with
Tara Jane O'Neil Tara Jane O'Neil (born November 22, 1972) (surname sometimes written as "ONeil"; sometimes credited as TJO) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, audio recording engineer, and visual artist based out of Los Angeles, California, Unite ...
) * "The Lucky" (2020, ''The Quickening'') * "Gathering" and "Pallet" (2020, ''The Quickening'') * "Lost Futures" (2021, ''Lost Futures'') * "Hurricane Light" (2021, ''Lost Futures'') * "At the Edge of the World" (2021, ''Lost Futures'') * "Waking" (2022, ''Still, Here'') * "
La Llorona (; ) is a vengeful ghost in Hispanic American folklore who is said to roam near bodies of water mourning her children whom she drowned in a jealous rage after discovering her husband was unfaithful to her. Whoever hears her crying either suffer ...
" (2022, ''Still, Here'') * "The Fire This Time" (2022, ''Still, Here'') * " For All We Know" (2023, with Tara Jane O'Neil) * "Bitterroot Valley Suite I: Water" (2024, ''Swallowtail'') * "Peregrine" (2024, ''Swallowtail'')


With the Dolly Ranchers

* ''Ten O'Clock Bird'' (2000, Chaos Kitchen) * ''Escape Artist'' (2002, Chaos Kitchen)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Marisa Living people 21st-century American women guitarists Guitarists from California Musicians from Portland, Oregon Guitarists from Oregon American folk guitarists Americana musicians American women environmentalists American environmentalists Thrill Jockey artists Year of birth missing (living people) California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt alumni People from Sonoma, California American women film score composers 21st-century American women composers Mississippi Records artists