Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Gillian’s Harrow & Harvest

As all of the staff here at HT know, the creative process of putting pen to paper – or in our case hands to keyboard – doesn’t always flow as easily as we’d like it to each and every day, so we can certainly sympathize with the plight of Gillian Welch. After releasing a string of critically acclaimed albums, the last of which being 2003’s Soul Journey, the folkie singer-songwriter went through long bouts of frustration in her, and her long-time musical partner David Rawlings attempts at a follow up record. It wasn’t that Welch wasn’t keeping busy. In fact the duo toured relentlessly, with Welch also contributing vocals on albums for the likes of Emmylou Harris, Bright Eyes, Solomon Burke, OCMS and most recently being prominently featured on seven tracks on The Decemberists’ latest record The King Is Dead.

It was the 2009 release of Rawlings role reversal “solo” debut, A Friend Of A Friend, that helped open the proverbial floodgates, with Welch co-writing five songs. Last week after an eight year wait, Welch finally released her long-awaited new studio album, The Harrow & The Harvest, whose title is a direct nod to not only the frustration of writer’s block, but also the bounty of material the came along with overcoming it. Last week Welch stopped by Conan to perform The Way It Goes…

Gillian Welch will kick off her lengthy summer tour on July 6 at the Cocoanut Grove Ballroom in Santa, CA, which also includes notable high profile stops at the Newport Folk Festival and the Austin City Limits Music Festival.