Joan Shelley was born in 1985 in Louisville (State of Kentucky) and made her appearance in the recording industry in 2012 with the album "Ginko".
Endowed with a crystal clear and highly expressive voice, equipped with a linear writing style and dispenser of kaleidoscopic emotions, the singer-songwriter (engaged in not only the composition of the songs but also the voice, guitar and piano) published "The Spur" in 2022, one of her most engaging works. Flanked by trusted "long-standing" collaborators such as multi-instrumentalist James Elkington (also producer of the record) and the refined guitarist Nathan Salsburg (who is also curator of the archives of the legendary American traditional music scholar Alan Lomax), Shelley offers twelve tracks of pure and genuine folk music. Guest appearances of "The Spur" include great musicians such as Bill Callahan (creator of excellent albums both in his own name and in the name of Smog) in the seductive "Amberlit Morning", Meg Baird (already a member of formations such as Espers and Heron Oblivion) to support the voice of the artist in the first song "Forever Blues" and in the reflective "Between Rock And Sky" (with Irish hints), the drummer Spencer Tweedy (son of Jeff, leader of the Wilco line-up and producer of Joan Shelley's 2017 album simply titled "Joan Shelley") in the graceful "Like The Thunder" and the sober "Bolt".