Since releasing her debut album in 1995, Cat Power has developed a reputation. As one of the greatest songwriters of her generation, yes—but also as a “difficult” woman who dislikes performing and won’t play her hits. It only takes a few minutes on the phone with her, however, to fully dispel this notion.
Marshall announced the album in December 2021 by releasing a heartbreaking rendition of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” written in 1938 and made famous by Billie Holiday. Reading the full track list is like rummaging through your coolest friend’s record collection. There’s a version of “These Days,” written by Jackson Browne and popularized by Nico, as well as a take on Frank Ocean’s “Bad Religion.” Other selections include songs by Nick Cave, Lana Del Rey, the Pogues, and Dead Man’s Bones .
“If I’ve chosen to, for whatever reason, sing an old song of mine, it’s always going to be different as I go through my own life experiences.” Marshall rose to fame in the mid-’90s, which at the time meant she was very popular on college radio. She became a bona-fide indie darling in 1996 with the release of her third album, What Would the Community Think, produced by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. That album was her first with Matador, a “major” indie label, but she’d already established her signature sound by then: sparse instrumentation of punk-inflected folk songs anchored by her inimitable husky vocals.
The Jagged Little Pill tour took her to much larger venues than she’s used to, but that didn’t bother her, either. “I don’t usually play for 25,000 people,” she jokes. “I’m like a local artist around the world, a local band. That’s great, and I love that, and that’s where I’d like to keep it.