Amy Annelle, a multifaceted Americana songwriter and folk musician from Austin, Texas, is a captivating storyteller whose deep catalog reflects a modern vision entwined with respect for America’s rich musical legacy. With a talent for inhabiting her songs, she effortlessly conveys complex characters and emotional nuance, making singing seem as natural as breathing. Best known for her rendition of Townes Van Zandt’s “Buckskin Stallion Blues,” which featured prominently in the Academy Award-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Annelle’s heartfelt performance has resonated globally.
Emerging from a long battle with chronic illness, Annelle returns to the forefront of her craft with her enthralling  new album, The Toll, a visceral 12-track treasure. Borne from the depths of a restive soul, these songs capture a time of transience and potent relationships. Each entry explores elemental lyrical themes: the wonderment and fierceness of nature’s rapture (“A Star’s Memory,” “East Texas Son”), the multi-faceted sorrow and astonishment of love (“The Ballad of Fire and Water,” “Why Did He Take His Love Away,” “The Toll”), the high price of following dreams (“Down and Out in Denver,” ”The Gate”), the peril of reaching the end of the road (“Pull Tabs and Broken Glass,” “Let Me Be,” “That Lonesome Whistle”), and her own emerging queer identity (“Common Law Marriage,” “I Loved a Lad”).

Backed by some of Austin’s finest studio musicians, The Toll showcases Annelle’s deft musical language – one that transcends genre boundaries. Co-produced by Cooper McBean of folk/Americana powerhouse The Devil Makes Three, the album features lush instrumentation, stirring harmonies, and elegant arrangements. McBean also duets with Annelle on album track “Common Law Marriage,” a wry, bittersweet send-up of conventional values. Acclaimed songwriter and musician Jolie Holland makes a wistful guest vocal appearance on the album’s overture and opener, “Pull Tabs and Broken Glass.”
Recorded at Annelle’s no-frills home studio in Austin’s Montopolis neighborhood, mixed by revered producer and engineer Darryl Neudorf (Neko Case, The Weather Station), and mastered by legendary engineer Greg Calbi (Yoko Ono, Sleater-Kinney, Taylor Swift), The Toll is imbued with a lifetime of lived experience, offering intimate and raw narratives that are deep-seeded and rooted in authenticity, complex yet playful.
Since her 1998 debut single “Rudy,” Annelle, who  has also contributed to the work of fellow artists Bill Callahan, Daniel Johnston, Michael Hurley, and Jandek, has released a stream of critically acclaimed solo albums, first using the moniker “The Places,” then her own name. After a few years spent in Portland, Oregon’s burgeoning music scene, she made a home on the road, touring as a soloist or with ingenious pickup groups which brought together friends from folk, jazz, country and experimental circles. In between her  travels, Annelle stayed in different regions of the country, living rough, working odd jobs and immersing herself in the people, places and history around her. Her songs, photographs, and essays bear witness to this journey, into forgotten eddies of America and deep within herself. Her touching performances have taken place everywhere from art collectives and festivals, clubs and street corners, to New York City’s Town Hall and on Hollywood’s big screen. She’s been recording and touring for over two decades, crafting “richly textured, exotic song-worlds that often bear little resemblance to standard voice-and-guitar folk songs” (Billboard).
The Toll marks Annelle’s triumphant return to form; her music serves as a cartographic study of people and places, where cities and encounters are vividly portrayed in shades and shapes of bruises. Her songs culminate in a cathartic and unforgettable experience for all who listen.