Angel Olsen

Being a protégée of indie-folk maverick Will Oldham isn't an obvious ticket to commercial success. But Angel Olsen's quirky and emotive songwriting put her across in the latter 2010s. A St. Louis native, she turned to music during an unconventional childhood (both her adoptive parents were in late middle age), and sang to her favorite records-Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston-to help herself sleep. Becoming more introverted in high school, she learned guitar and piano and began writing songs. After graduating from a Christian high school she moved to Chicago and began performing, making a few notable connections. One of her first supporters was Jon Hency, who ran the Bathetic label. He was attracted to "Creator, Destroyer," a lost-love song she'd posted online, and planned to include it on an all-women compilation; when that release didn't happen he put out her first EP, 2011's Strange Cacti, a lo-fi acoustic set originally released on cassette. Soon afterward she began playing with Cairo Gang leader Emmett Kelly, who passed her music along to Oldham. Their first project together was the Bubblers, which paid tribute to a cult-classic 1979 album by avant-rock artists Kevin Coyne and Dagmar Kraus. Those cover sets led to Olsen joining Oldham's more mainstream project, Bonnie "Prince" Billy. She stayed with Bathetic for her full-length debut, Half Way Home, which added clear production and light electric backing. The vulnerable quality of Olsen's voice and songs caught attention; Sleater-Kinney cofounder Carrie Brownstein was among those who sung its praises. The production got fuller on the second album, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, which only accented her trademark aching vulnerability. This time the album was a critical smash, with the Onion's A.V. Club naming it 2014's best album and the Village Voice's nationwide Pazz & Jop Poll naming it fifth-best. 2016's My Woman marked a change of direction: More upbeat both musically and emotionally, it includes a full-blown pop single in "Shut Up & Kiss Me."