Waxahatchee - Great Thunder - New 12"

This EP features a collection of songs written with Katie Crutchfield’s now-dormant experimental recording group Great Thunder while she was also writing the Waxahatchee albums Cerulean Salt and Ivy Tripp. The original recordings have mostly faded into obscurity, but unearthing and reimagining them with producer Brad Cook at Justin Vernon’s April Base studio in Wisconsin was a cathartic experience, she says.

On the heels of last year’s critically acclaimed Out in the Storm, Crutchfield found herself looking to take a sharp turn away from the more rock-oriented influences of her recent records towards her more folk and country roots. “I would say that it is a complete 180 from the last record: super stripped-down, quiet, and with me performing solo, it’s a throwback to how I started.”

Katie Crutchfield’s southern roots are undeniable. The name of her solo musical project Waxahatchee comes from a creek not far from her childhood home in Alabama and seems to represent both where she came from and where she’s going.