Adrianne Lenker

Adrianne Lenker, born July 9, 1991, in Plymouth, Minnesota, is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist best known as the frontwoman of the Brooklyn-based indie rock band Big Thief, one of the most acclaimed groups in contemporary indie music for its intimate songwriting and raw emotional directness. Her voice and fingerpicked guitar style have become a defining sound of the American indie-folk revival of the 2010s and 2020s.

Alongside her work with Big Thief, Lenker has built a substantial solo catalog, releasing albums that lean further into stripped-down, folk-influenced songwriting, often recorded in rustic, close-mic'd settings that emphasize intimacy and texture. Songs such as «anything» and «half return» showcase her ability to move between hushed acoustic minimalism and more open, exploratory arrangements.

She has also collaborated extensively with Buck Meek, her former husband and Big Thief co-founder, releasing music together outside the band. Across her body of work, Lenker is regarded for lyrics that blend nature imagery, memory, and vulnerability, and for a guitar technique rooted in traditional folk and country fingerstyle playing, making her one of the defining voices of modern American songwriting.