One of the shows Nashville.com is most excited to see this year at the Farm is Madison Cunningham. She’s been on our radar for quite a while but after her her 2022 album Revealer won the Grammy for Best Folk Album she’s on everybody’s radar.
Listen to the latest single from the album, Inventing the Wheel above.
Cunningham was born in Escondido, California, and later moved to Costa Mesa, where she grew up. She is the daughter of a pastor at a local church, and she has four sisters. Influenced by her father, Cunningham started playing guitar when she was seven years old, performing in the church. As a teenager, she met producer Tyler Chester, with whom she made the self-released worship album Authenticity (2014), which she later removed from streaming platforms as she felt it was no longer relatable. About her faith, Cunningham said, “Christianity looks different to me all the time. The phrase that I use with my husband is ‘I’m becoming more and more of an agnostic every day.'”
After graduating from high school, Cunningham discovered many influences, like the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Fiona Apple and others
In 2017, Cunningham joined the cast of American Public Media’s show Live from Here, presented by Chris Thile, of whom she became a frequent collaborator. She also toured with multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird, being credited for vocals in his 2019 album, My Finest Work Yet.
Who Are You Now, released on August 16, 2019, earned her a Grammy nomination in the following year for best Americana album. In 2020, Cunningham released her third EP, Wednesday, covering songs by Tom Waits, Radiohead, John Mayer and the Beatles.
On September 9, 2022, Cunningham released Revealer and she has truly come in to her own, painting a unique picture in every song on the album, almost like a modern day Joni Mitchell. She just keeps getting better. So on Friday 6/16, that is a show you won’t want to miss at Bonnaroo, we won’t!
