Claire Holley writes songs that are literary, playful, meditative, and earthy. A native Mississippian now living in Los Angeles, she owes much to the southern tradition of storytelling, and just as much to the southern tradition of charm. With spare, delicate arrangements and a frank, lovely, and versatile sound, she sings deceptively simple songs. Claire began playing music when she was just two years old, when she and her grandmother, an accomplished jazz pianist, would play “Chopsticks” on the piano at her home in Jackson, Mississippi. But it was the guitar that really got her interested in playing music. She would take a ukulele to church and sit out in the hot car strumming it between Sunday school and the church service. She ruined her father’s classical guitar by replacing the nylon strings with steel strings so she could imitate what she’d been hearing on her favorite record, The Atkins-Travis Traveling Show.
Holley began performing and writing songs in college, but released her first recordings 
while living in North Carolina. She began getting regular airplay on WUNC’s Back Porch Music, and her self-titled debut from Yep Roc Records was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition. A move to the west coast followed and, soon after, she began collaborating with directors on their film and play projects. Holley has released seven records, and her Powdercoat EP, a collaboration with Kristin Mooney, won the 2014 “Best in Popular Music” from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters—Huffington Post called it “one of the year’s loveliest recordings.” A tasteful vocalist and guitar player, Claire is an engaging performer and has sung at Merlefest, Mountain Stage, and a host of listening rooms around the country. She was nominated by the 2006 LA Weekly Theatre Awards for Best Original Music for the songs she wrote for the play, See Rock City. She has composed music for a feature length documentary, three short films, and two of her songs have been on ABC’s Men in Trees. Holley’s forthcoming solo album, Time in the Middle, will be released this Spring. 
