Caroline Spence - Somehow (2015)

A Nashville-based singer/songwriter with a gift for storytelling, Caroline Spence's thoughtful musings on human nature helped establish her in the national folk and Americana scene of the mid-2010s. Earning critical accolades and glowing respect from within the Music City songwriting community for her 2017 LP, Spades & Roses, she signed with Rounder and made her label debut with 2019's Mint Condition. Three years later, Spence delivered the spacious and deeply reflective True North.
A native of Charlottesville, Virginia, Spence emerged in 2013 with You Know the Feeling, a six-song EP of winsome, world-weary Americana and folk songcraft. That same year, she won American Songwriter's Lyric Contest and began establishing herself on the national festival and folk club circuit, picking up another win at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 2014 in advance of her acclaimed 2015 debut album, Somehow. Basing herself in Nashville, Spence earned a reputation for honest, introspective songwriting that transcended the lines of folk, country, and roots music, drawing comparisons to artists like Patty Griffin and Emmylou Harris. She returned in 2017 with Spades & Roses, her haunting follow-up album, after which she signed a contract with the well-established Rounder Records label. 2019's Mint Condition was her first outing for the label and featured a guest appearance from Emmylou Harris herself. 2022's True North found Spence reflecting on themes of grief, hope, and resilience within a set of atmospheric, almost ethereal folk songs.