Laura Cantrell Biography

Laura Cantrell Biography

Laura Cantrell is a country singer and DJ from Nashville, Tennessee. She used to present a weekly radio show on WFMU called the Radio Thrift Shop. Since October 2005 she has only made occasional appearances on the station. Cantrell moved to New York City from her native Nashville to study law and accounting at Columbia University. She began presenting on the university's WKCR radio station before 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'sApollo 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 LP, Not the Tremblin' Kind. The LP reached the attention of fellow 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 dedicates Humming by the Flowered Vine (2005) to his memory.