| Laura Cantrell | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | c. 1967 |
| Origin | New York City, USA |
| Genres | country |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Diesel Only |
| Associated acts | They Might Be Giants |
| Website | http://www.lauracantrell.com/ |
Laura Cantrell (born c.1968)[1] is a country singer-songwriter and DJ from Nashville, Tennessee. She used to present a weekly country and old-time music radio show on WFMU in New Jersey called The Radio Thrift Shop. Since October 2005 she has only made occasional appearances on the station.
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Cantrell moved to New York City from her native Nashville to study law and accounting at Columbia University. She began deejaying on the university's radio station, WKCR, until joining WFMU after her graduation in 1993.
Her singing career began when she was at college, performing with various local groups. She later befriended John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, with whom she sings on the band's Apollo 18 (1992). Flansburgh also released her first solo material: an EP on his "Hello CD of the Month Club" in June 1996, which was reissued in 2004 as The Hello Recordings.
Cantrell reached wider recognition in 2000 with her debut album, Not the Tremblin' Kind. The album reached the attention of legendary UK DJ John Peel, who wrote of it, "[It is] my favourite record of the last ten years and possibly my life". She went on to record five sessions for Peel and dedicated her 2005 album, Humming by the Flowered Vine, to his memory.