Gillian Howard Welch (born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter who performs with guitarist David Rawlings. Their spare, often dark sound, which The New Yorker calls "at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms", In 2024, Welch and Rawlings released Woodland, which would win the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album, currently making Welch and Rawlings the only duo to win the award more than once.
Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the soundtrack of the Coen brothers 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. She also appeared in the film attempting to buy a Soggy Bottom Boys record. Welch, while not one of the principal actors, did sing and provide additional lyrics to the Sirens song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." In 2018 she and Rawlings wrote the song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" for the Coens' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for which they received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Early life
Welch was born on October 2, 1967, in New York City, and was adopted by Mitzie Welch (née Marilyn Cottle) and Ken Welch, comedy and music entertainers.
The Harrow & the Harvest
In a 2007 feature in The Guardian, critic John Harris expressed frustration that there had not been a Gillian Welch release in four years. She explained: "Our songcraft slipped and I really don't know why. It's not uncommon. It's something that happens to writers. It's the deepest frustration we have come through, hence the album title."
The album received praise from publications such as The Los Angeles Times, Uncut, and Rolling Stone. Thom Jurek of Allmusic wrote that the album "is stunning for its intimacy, its lack of studio artifice, its warmth and its timeless, if hard won, songcraft".
The album peaked at No. 20 on the US Billboard 200 and No. 25 on the UK Albums Chart. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, as well as Best Engineered Album.
Boots No 1: The Official Revival Bootleg
Boots No 1: The Official Revival Bootleg, was released on November 25, 2016. It received the status of "universal acclaim", receiving a Metacritic score of 79 out of 100, based on reviews from 8 critics. The album celebrates the 20th anniversary of Welch's debut album, Revival, and includes outtakes, alternate versions, and demos of the songs featured on the original, as well as eight new unreleased tracks.
All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone)
In July 2020, Welch and Rawlings announced All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone), an album of covers and traditional songs recorded at their home during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. All the Good Times is notably the first album in their decades-long history of collaboration to be released jointly in both of their names. The album won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The album won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album, marking Rawling's second win of the award and making him and Welch the only two people to have won the award more than once.|source= —Ketch Secor, Old Crow Medicine Show
Welch emphasizes music from a previous era as her major influence. She said that "by and large I listen to people who are dead. I'm really of the tried-and-true school. I let 50 years go by and see what's really relevant." Mark Deming of Allmusic wrote that their work on Ryan Adams' album Heartbreaker "brought out the best in Adams".
Artists who have recorded songs written by Welch include Jimmy Buffett, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Trisha Yearwood, Joan Baez, Brad Mehldau & Chris Thile, Allison Moorer, Emmylou Harris, Miranda Lambert, Madison Cunningham, Kathy Mattea and ZZ Top.
Performances
thumb|Welch performing in 2006
Welch and Rawlings have played many music festivals, including The Newport Folk Festival, Coachella Festival, The Telluride Bluegrass Festival, The Cambridge Folk Festival, Bonnaroo, MerleFest, The Austin City Limits Festival, and Farm Aid.
The Dave Rawlings Machine have toured North America, with the band originally composed of Rawlings, Welch and three members of Old Crow Medicine Show.
Discography
- Revival (1996)
- Hell Among the Yearlings (1998)
- Time (The Revelator) (2001)
- Soul Journey (2003)
- The Harrow & the Harvest (2011)
- All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone) <small>with David Rawlings</small> (2020)
- Woodland <small>with David Rawlings</small> (2024)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Association
!Category
!Nominated work
!width="65"|Result
|-
|1997
| align="center"|Grammy Awards
| align="center"|Best Contemporary Folk Album
| align="center"|Revival
|
|-
| rowspan=7|2001
| align="center" rowspan=3|International Bluegrass Music Awards
| align="center"| Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year
| align="center"| "I'll Fly Away" <small>(with Alison Krauss)</small>
|
|-
| align="center"| Recorded Event of the Year
| align="center"| Clinch Mountain Sweethearts <small>(with Ralph Stanley and various artists)</small>
|
|-
| align="center" rowspan=3| Album of the Year
| align="center" rowspan=3| O Brother, Where Art Thou? <small>(with various artists)</small>
|
|-
| align="center"| Academy of Country Music Awards
|
|-
| rowspan="3" align="center" |Country Music Association Awards
|
|-
| rowspan="2" align="center" | Vocal Event of the Year
| "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby" <small>(with Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris)</small>
|
|-
| align="center" | "I'll Fly Away" <small>(with Alison Krauss)</small>
|
|-
| rowspan="7" |2002
| rowspan="3" align="center" |Grammy Awards
| align="center" | Album of the Year
| align="center" | O Brother, Where Art Thou? <small>(with various artists)</small>
|
|-
| align="center" | Best Country Collaboration with Vocals
| align="center" | "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby" <small>(with Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris)</small>
|
|-
| align="center" | Best Contemporary Folk Album
| rowspan="2" align="center" |Time (The Revelator)
|
|-
| align="center" rowspan=3|Americana Music Honors & Awards
| align="center"| Album of the Year
|
|-
| align="center"| Song of the Year
| align="center"| "I Want To Sing That Rock & Roll" <small>(with David Rawlings)</small>
|
|-
| align="center"| Artist of the Year
| align="center"| Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
|
|-
| align="center"| International Bluegrass Music Awards
| align="center"| Album of the Year
| align="center"| Down from the Mountain <small>(with various artists)</small>
|
|-
| align="center" rowspan=2|2012
| align="center"| Americana Music Honors & Awards
| align="center"| Artist of the Year
| align="center"| Gillian Welch
|
|-
| align="center"| Grammy Awards
| align="center"| Best Folk Album
| align="center"| The Harrow & the Harvest <small>(with David Rawlings)</small>
|
|-
| 2015
| align="center"| Americana Music Honors & Awards
| align="center"| Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting
| align="center"| Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
|
|-
| 2018
| align="center"| Grammy Awards
| align="center"| Best American Roots Song
| align="center"| "Cumberland Gap" <small>(with David Rawlings)</small>
|
Thomas Wolfe Prize won
|-
| 2019
| align="center"| Academy Awards
| align="center"| Best Original Song
| align="center"| "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" <small>(with David Rawlings)</small>
|
|-
| 2021
| align="center"| Grammy Awards
| align="center"| Best Folk Album
| align="center"| All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone) <small>(with David Rawlings)</small>
|
|-
| rowspan=3|2025
| align="center"| Grammy Awards
| align="center"| Best Folk Album
| align="center" rowspan=2| Woodland <small>(with David Rawlings)</small>
|
|-
| align="center" rowspan=2| Americana Music Honors & Awards
| align="center"| Album of the Year
|
|-
| align="center"| Duo/Group of the Year
| align="center"| Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
|
|}
References
External links
- Official website
- Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at July 2, 2025 NPR Tiny Desk Concert, 22 min, 4 tracks, 2 musicians, live video