Sonya Hunter

Sonya Hunter, a singer and songwriter of rare ability, connects conventional folk traditions with the sphere of indie rock. This San Francisco resident, who accompanies herself on acoustic guitar and has performed interpretations of longstanding folk material, has issued nearly all her output through rock-focused independent labels on both sides of the Atlantic, most often backed by a complete band. In this respect she forms a link between Cordelia's Dad and Aimee Mann.

Hunter first surfaced on several Bay Area compilations during the early 1990s, most prominently the 1990 AIDS benefit collection Acoustic Music Project, which contained her finest early composition, the simply gorgeous “Paint.” The same song reappeared on her debut album, 1991’s Favorite Short Stories. Throughout the remainder of the decade she divided her time between San Francisco and Germany; the ensuing releases—1993’s Geography, 1995’s Peasant Pie, the live-in-the-studio retrospective Finders Keepers, and 1998’s Headlights and Other Constellations—emerged exclusively on German labels.