Valley Maker represents the work of singer/songwriter Austin Crane, a South Carolina native whose earthy folk-rock missives explore the nature of human connection with an attention to detail reflective of the project's origin in academia. From his eponymous 2010 debut, which also doubled as his senior thesis, Crane went on to develop a rich and intimate sound over subsequent releases like 2018's
Rhododendron and 2021's
When the Day Leaves.
Growing up among the evangelical community of Florence, South Carolina, Crane had to seek out secular inspiration over the Internet and soon became enamored of indie heroes like
Cat Power and
Bill Callahan. He began playing under the
Valley Maker name (nicked from a song by
Callahan's band
Smog) while attending University of South Carolina in Columbia, where the project soon coalesced with his studies. Independently released in May 2010, his self-titled debut was an ambitious experimental folk album centered around narratives from the Book of Genesis and served as his senior thesis. After graduating, he moved to Seattle to seek a PhD in human geography and began gigging around the Pacific Northwest with a revolving crew of collaborators, including fellow singer/songwriter Amy Godwin. After issuing his second album,
When I Was a Child, in 2015, Crane signed with the Frenchkiss label and recorded 2018's critically acclaimed
Rhododendron in Portland with
Chaz Bundick (
Toro y Moi). Relocating back to South Carolina, Crane carried the more spacious and textural sound of
Rhododendron into the next decade with his fourth
Valley Maker album,
When the Day Leaves, which was released in early 2021. ~ Timothy Monger