Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
There’s a snake in my boot! It’s 2024 and the whole world’s going country. Kacey Musgraves is back, Beyoncé and Miss Lana Del Rey are both reaching for ten gallon hats. But for Alabama’s Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee, country music remains a lifestyle, not a vacation. Over six increasingly brilliant albums, Crutchfield has quietly honed the immediacy of her songwriting. Her last one, 2020’s Saint Cloud, arrived moments before lockdown. The potent lyrics, paired with her droll diction, lured listeners into a music genre that seemed hitherto uninviting. Tigers Blood continues this journey heavenward, blending backcombed, Sheryl Crow-esque barnstorming with Crutchfield’s barbed asides. Less loquacious than Saint Cloud, it’s also a lot funnier. How often do you hear the expression “the blind squirrel finds a nut”? Crutchfield made her last album while getting sober. She’s said this one paints her as an untortured artist. One does wonder whether the edges are now a tad too smooth.
Photograph Waxahatchee/Facebook