Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Kathryn Crutchfield (born January 4, 1989), known professionally as Katie Crutchfield, following the breakup of her previous band P.S. Eliot. The band is named after Waxahatchee Creek in Alabama, where Crutchfield grew up. Originally an acoustic solo project, her recordings now tend to involve a full backing band.

As Waxahatchee, she has released six solo studio albums to date: American Weekend (2012), Cerulean Salt (2013), Ivy Tripp (2015), Out in the Storm (2017), Saint Cloud (2020) and Tigers Blood (2024), which was nominated for the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Americana Album. Outside of Waxahatchee, Crutchfield is a member of alternative country duo Plains, alongside Jess Williamson, and the indie rock band Snocaps, which features her twin sister Allison Crutchfield, MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook.

History 2010–2017: American Weekend, Cerulean Salt, and Ivy Tripp While a member of P.S. Eliot, a band formed with her twin sister Allison, Crutchfield released her first music as Waxahatchee as a cassette. Her bedroom-recorded debut album, American Weekend, was recorded in 2011 and released on Don Giovanni Records in 2012. Crutchfield wrote and recorded the album in one week at her family home in Birmingham, Alabama. Her lyrics focused on personal relationships, devastation and longing.

The album garnered positive reviews and was named a top album of 2012 by Dusted magazine. "Be Good" was a song of the day on National Public Radio, and listed as one of the best 50 songs of 2012. "Catfish" was featured on an episode of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale.

Waxahatchee's second album, Cerulean Salt, was released in March 2013 through Don Giovanni Records in the United States, and four months later on Wichita Recordings in the U.K. The critically acclaimed album reached number one on the Official Record Store Chart in July 2013 and scored 8.4 on Pitchfork. Waxahatchee supported Tegan And Sara on their U.K. tour, before playing a headline U.K. tour in October that same year.

In 2015 Crutchfield signed to Merge Records, which released her third album, Ivy Tripp, in April of that year. Waxahatchee toured non-stop for the rest of 2015, including tours with Kurt Vile and the Violators and Sleater Kinney.

2017–present: Out in the Storm, Saint Cloud, Plains, Tigers Blood and Snocaps In 2017, Waxahatchee toured with The New Pornographers, and also embarked on a headlining tour around the United States. In the autumn months the band toured parts of Europe, including several festival dates. Waxahatchee's fourth album, Out in the Storm, was released on July 14, 2017, on Merge Records. It moves away from the lo-fi sound of previous albums, partly due to the guidance of co-producer John Agnello. It was recorded in the Miner Street Recordings studio with her former touring band.Out in the Storm Review, by Sarah Murphy in Canadian Exclaim! Music Mag, published July 12, 2017 Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork wrote of "Katie Crutchfield’s sharp, gorgeous songwriting", "immersive" band sound and "songs that play like fiery exorcisms" in a review of the album.Sam Sodomsky: Katie Crutchfield’s fourth album, review in Pitchfork July 13, 2017 Waxahatchee opened Jawbreaker's first Los Angeles shows in 22 years at the Hollywood Palladium on March 10, 2018, and in New York City at Brooklyn Steel on February 27, 2018.

In January 2020, Waxahatchee announced her fifth album, Saint Cloud, and released a single called "Fire". The album was recorded in 2019 at Sonic Ranch in Texas and at Long Pond in Stuyvesant, New York with producer Brad Cook. The album features Detroit-based band Bonny Doon. On February 18, Waxahatchee released the single "Lilacs" and on March 16, she released the single "Can't Do Much." In a comprehensive interview with Will Gottsegen at Billboard, she spoke about her musical influences and recent sobriety. The record made it at No. 7 on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart of April 2020, No. 1 on Heatseekers Albums, No. 2 on Americana/Folk Albums and No. 6 on Alternative Albums with 7,000 units. At the same time, the single "Lilacs" ranked at No. 36 on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart.

In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Crutchfield performed a series of live streamed concerts comprising all the songs from one of her studio albums. She announced the series as a deep dive into her backlist in an attempt to reach out to her fans and also to generate some income after the pandemic caused suspension of all touring.

In 2021, Waxahatchee performed at the Newport Folk Festival as well the Mempho Music Festival in the Radians Amphitheater of Memphis, Tennessee. Her album Saint Cloud won the Libera Awards 2021 as Best Country Record.

In July 2022, Crutchfield announced Plains, a collaboration project with singer-songwriter Jess Williamson. Their debut album, I Walked with You a Ways, was released in October 2022.

In December 2023, Waxahatchee made a guest appearance on the song "Pretty Paper" on the Philly Specials album A Philly Special Christmas Special. The following month, she announced that the sixth Waxahatchee album Tigers Blood would be released in March 2024. To coincide with the announcement, the album's lead single "Right Back to It" was released. It features harmonies from MJ Lenderman. Waxahatchee toured in support of the album in 2024, traveling on a tour bus and playing 2,500-capacity theaters, having declined opportunities to play larger venues. Waxahatchee has played the 2025 Barcelona and Porto editions of Primavera Sound.

In October 2025, Crutchfield posted a series of Polaroid photos of herself, Allison Crutchfield, MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook together. Allison, Lenderman and Cook all shared these photos on their own Instagram accounts as well. On October 31, 2025, this tease was revealed to be a surprise new studio album for the Crutchfield sisters and Lenderman. The album was released on Anti- under the project name of Snocaps, and was self-titled. Cook produced the album, with the sisters sharing lead vocals and Lenderman playing multiple instruments.

On January 20, 2026, Waxahatchee featured on the Courtney Barnett single "Site Unseen", contributing vocals. In the press release, Barnett said that she is "a big Waxahatchee fan" and added "I really love Katie's songwriting and her voice".

Personal life Crutchfield’s twin sister Allison is also a musician, performing solo and with the band Swearin'. Crutchfield is sober; her 2020 album Saint Cloud was largely written about her decision to stop drinking alcohol.

Crutchfield has been in a relationship with songwriter Kevin Morby since 2017, and they live together in Overland Park, Kansas. In 2017 the couple released a cover of "After Hours" by the Velvet Underground. In January 2018, indie label Dead Oceans released the single "Farewell Transmission" with "The Dark Don't Hide It" by Morby & Waxahatchee as the b-side, in homage to songwriter Jason Molina.see Discogs database Merge Records published the digital single video Chapel of Pines, on YouTube on July 17, 2018, which led Waxahatchee back to solo work. Waxahatchee's cover of Kevin Morby's "Downtown's Lights" was featured over the closing credits of episode six of American Rust.

On April 13, 2026, during her concert with MJ Lenderman at the Atlanta Symphony Hall, Crutchfield announced that she and Morby were expecting their first child. The baby, a son, was born in July 2026.

Discography Studio albums as Waxahatchee + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions US US Indie BEL(FL) FRAPhys. NEDVinyl NZ SCOPeak chart positions in Scotland: Ivy Trip: Saint Cloud: I Walked with You a Ways: Tiger's Blood: SPAVinyl SWEPhys. UKPeaks in the UK: For all except noted: I Walked with You a Ways: Cerulean Salt: American Weekend Released: January 12, 2012 Label: Don Giovanni — — — — — — — — — — Cerulean Salt Released: March 5, 2013 Label: Don Giovanni — — — — — — — — — 156 Ivy Tripp Released: April 7, 2015 Label: Merge, Wichita 153 15 — — — — 87 — — 98 Out in the Storm Released: July 14, 2017 Label: Merge — 7 — — — — — — — — Saint Cloud Released: March 27, 2020 Label: Merge 140 17 — — — — 27 — — — Tigers Blood Released: March 22, 2024 Label: Anti- 146 27 101 172 31 35 7 48 7 38"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

with Plains

+ List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions SCOPeak chart positions in Scotland: I Walked with You a Ways: UKSalesPeaks in the UK as Plains: UKAmer. UKIndie I Walked with You a Ways Released: October 14, 2022 Label: Anti- 76 61 4 25"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

with Snocaps + List of albums Title Album details Snocaps Released: October 31, 2025 Label: Anti-

EPs + List of EPs, with selected chart positions Title EP details Peak chart positions US US Indie USHeat Great Thunder Released: September 7, 2018 Label: Merge 84 26 6 El Deafo (Apple TV+ Original Series Soundtrack) Released: January 7, 2022 Label: Apple Video Programming/Merge – – –"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles as Waxahatchee +List of singles Title Year Peak chart positions Album USAAA UKSales "Air" 2015 — — Ivy Tripp "Under a Rock" — — "La Loose" — — "No Curse" 2017 — — rowspan="1" "Silver" — — Out in the Storm "Farewell Transmission" / "The Dark Don't Hide It" (with Kevin Morby) 2018 — — rowspan="1" "Recite Remorse" — — Out in the Storm "Greenville" (live) / "La Loose" (live) — — Live At Third Man "Fire" 2020 — — Saint Cloud "Lilacs" 26 — "Can't Do Much" — — "Talking Dust Bowl Blues" 2021 — — rowspan="1" "Right Back to It" (featuring MJ Lenderman) 2024 17 — Tigers Blood "Bored" 12 — "Much Ado About Nothing" 27 46 "Mud"2025— — rowspan="1" "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

with Plains +List of singles Title Year Peak chart positions Album USAAA "Problem With It" 2022 35 I Walked with You a Ways "Abilene" — "Hurricane" 36"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

as featured artist "Thirteen" (with Bedouine and Hurray for the Riff Raff) (2020, Spacebomb) "Other Side" (with Wynonna) (2022, Anti-)

Notes

Awards and nominations +YearAssociationCategoryNominated workResultRef2021Libera AwardsRecord of the YearSaint CloudBest Country Record2025Grammy AwardsBest Americana AlbumTiger's Blood

References

External links

Waxahatchee at Bandcamp

Waxahatchee at Don Giovanni Records Waxahatchee at Wichita Recordings Waxahatchee at Merge Records