The Austin 100: Katie Pruitt

By Stephen Thompson

Published March 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM EDT

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Genre: Country

Why We're Excited: Katie Pruitt's Expectations isn't just an album of clear-eyed coming-of-age songs about growing up gay in suburban Atlanta, getting out of bad relationships, letting go of what others think you should be and working through mental illness. It's also music performed with remarkable patience, as Pruitt's languid, shimmery songs unfurl gracefully and with expert care.

Listen to Katie Pruitt's "Out of the Blue"

Different Radio Music

Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

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