Clara Baker

Clara Baker, born and raised in Portland, OR, grew up around music. She sang harmonies with her mom, learned fiddle from her dad, and spent summers jamming at bluegrass festivals and fiddle contests with her brother. Listening to her parents' old Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, and Dixie Chicks albums inspired Clara to save up enough money to buy a guitar, and at 18 years old she started writing songs.

Since then, Clara has spent the past nine years writing songs, recording, and touring through 15+ states. Her 2015 debut album,Temporary Things, was successfully funded on Kickstarter and was released to widespread radio play in the US and internationally. It charted as top-played (#38) for two months in a row on national folk DJ charts.

In Clara’s music you’ll hear lyrics about old mountains, vivid and poignant stories of Willamette valley clearcuts, and love that's like "one day of sun, six days of rain". These songs also relay stories of a deeply introspective young woman-- someone who can take the sadness of heartache and add many sweet notes. On stage, Clara is sincere, charismatic, and thoughtful. She performs with confidence, easy humor, and fearlessness. Her instantly comforting voice draws you in, while her powerful guitar playing shows a striking level of musicality and mastery of her instrument.

Clara lives in Portland and tours nationally solo and with folk trio Five Letter Word. She's shared the stage with Chicago bluegrass outfit Henhouse Prowlers, and singer-songwriters like Beth Wood, Taylor Kingman, Matt The Electrician, John Craigie, and many more. Her forthcoming sophomore album (due for a 2019 release) was recorded live to tape with Grammy-winning engineer Brian Joseph (Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Kathleen Edwards), produced by Shane Leonard (Anna Tivel, The Stray Birds, Kristin Andreassen), and featuring Courtney Hartman (Della Mae, Robert Ellis) and Zachariah Hickman (Ray LaMontagne, Josh Ritter) with guest appearances by Anna Tivel and Jeffrey Martin.

As No Depression matter-of-factly states, "Clara Baker's journey will be one worth watching."