Gillian Welch

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings met while both were enrolled at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Upon graduating the pair relocated to Nashville and within four years of the move Welch had released her first album, Revival (1996). Since then she has released four albums, including the 2011 album The Harrow and The Harvest. But she and Rawlings have recorded with a host of other artists, including Robyn Hitchcock, The Decemberists, Old Crow Medicine Show. Additionally, she was one of the numerous contributors to the now-classic O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack.

Welch’s Top 10

10. “Orphan Girl” from Revival: One of Welch’s signature tunes this opens her 1998 debut album and sets the tone for a career built upon fine songwriting.

9. “My Morphine” from Hell Among The Yearlings: One of the hallmarks of Welch’s music is her gift for understatement and “My Morphine” is one of the best examples of this.

8. “Miner’s Refrain” from Hell Among The Yearlings: Written in the 1990s this song sounds as though it were written a hundred years earlier and sounds as fresh and new today as it did upon its release.

7. “Look at Miss Ohio” from Soul Journey: Later covered by indie rock band Blind Pilot the song contains one of Welch’s better couplets “I wanna do right/but not right now.”

6. “Beulah Land” from Avalon Blues: A Tribute to the Music of Mississippi John Hurt: The artists on this compilation were handpicked by co-producer Peter Case and the results are almost uniform in their ability to recreate Hurt’s spare and honest style. Among contributions on that release from John Hiatt, Beck, Taj Mahal, and Peter Case, this may be the best interpretation on the collection.

5. “Hickory Wind” from Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons: Welch fully inhabits this Parsons classic with such believability you begin to think that it was she who wrote it.

4. “Dark Turn of the Mind” from The Harrow and The Harvest: Eight years lapsed between Soul Journey and this album but Welch’s talent has only grown in that time as she demonstrates on this impossibly perfect tune.

3. “My First Lover” from Time (The Revelator): With a dash of Steve Miller thrown in for narrative effect “My First Lover” earns its place on what may be Welch’s strongest albums.

2. “Ruby” from A Friend of a Friend by Dave Rawlings Machine: Welch doesn’t take lead vocals on this but her presence is obvious.

1. “Revelator” from Time (The Revelator): Six-and-a-half minutes of pure Welch and may be her definitive song.