Josephine Foster

Josephine Foster is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Colorado, born in 1974. Her work spans avant-folk, contemporary folk, freak folk, psychedelic folk, psychedelic rock, and singer-songwriter material. She is active as a solo artist and also records and performs under the names Josephine Foster and the Supposed and Josephine Foster & The Victor Herrero Band.

Early work and Chicago years

As an adolescent, Foster works as a funeral and wedding singer and aims to become an opera singer. After her studies, she begins recording demos of her own songs. These early recordings include There Are Eyes Above (2000), an album of ukulele-accompanied songs influenced by Tin Pan Alley, and Little Life (2001), an album of children’s songs.

She later spends several years working as a singing teacher in Chicago while also performing and recording with other acts. These include Born Heller, a duo with free jazz bassist Jason Ajemian, and The Children’s Hour, an indie pop band formed with songwriter Andrew Bar.

Solo recordings and associated projects

In 2004, Foster releases All the Leaves Are Gone with her occasional backing band The Supposed, with Brian Goodman on guitar and Rusty Peterson on drums. The album is a psychedelic rock record and draws comparisons with Patti Smith and Jefferson Airplane.

Her first solo studio album, Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You (2005), is released on Locust Music and draws on American folk and blues forms from the early 20th century. A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing follows in 2006 and features unorthodox settings of 19th-century German Lieder.

This Coming Gladness appears in 2008 and includes Victor Herrero on electric guitar and Alex Neilson on percussion. In early 2009, she releases Graphic as a Star, a set of 27 settings of Emily Dickinson poems, on UK label Fire Records.

Work with Spanish folk material

Foster then works in rural Spain with her husband Victor Herrero, collecting and arranging folk songs. This leads to Anda Jaleo, which resets García Lorca’s piano and voice transcriptions of Spanish songs, and Perlas, a collection of Spanish songs selected by Foster herself.

Later recordings

In 2012, Foster returns to Colorado to record Blood Rushing, a solo album inspired by themes from her childhood, including western geography, native rhythms, and imagined mythology. The album is recorded in a Boulder yoga studio by Andrija Tokic and features Victor Herrero on classical and electric guitars, Paz Lenchantin on bass, Heather Trost on violin, and Ben Trimble on pueblo skin drums.

She releases I’m A Dreamer in 2013.