Margo Cilker
Hailed as “country rock’s new star” by Uncut and recognised as one of Americana’s rising talents, Margo Cilker delivers heartfelt storytelling steeped in nostalgia, family ties, and the natural world.
Born and raised in California's Santa Clara Valley, Cilker’s music is steeped in the landscapes and stories of her past. Her critically acclaimed debut album Pohorylle (2021) introduced listeners to her evocative storytelling, earning a UK Americana Album of the Year nomination alongside Brandi Carlile and Robert Plant. The album was also listed among the "Best Country Albums of 2021" by Stereogum, No Depression, The Boot, Glide Magazine, and more.
Her second album, Valley of Heart’s Delight, draws inspiration from her roots in California’s Santa Clara Valley, once famed for apricot orchards and now transformed by Silicon Valley. Cilker moved from California to the Pacific Northwest in her mid-twenties and wrote much of her latest album while living in Enterprise, Oregon, a small town near the Snake River and powered by the river’s massive, publicly-funded hydroelectric dams. Valley Of Heart’s Delight feeds off of this tension - how we live in and off of nature, how we live within and without family, and why we return to the places we were born. The 11-song collection crafts a sound that combines time-tested country traditions with indie-folk modernity. As Brooklyn Vegan notes, Cilker’s songs feel like timeless memories, familiar yet fresh.
Produced by Sera Cahoone, Cilker and her crew of seasoned musicians, including members of The Decemberists, Band of Horses, and Beirut, create a richly layered Americana landscape with pedal steel, honky-tonk piano, and fiddle.
Margo Cilker's Americana sound is a haunting blend of folk, country, and rock that has captivated audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and is sure to go down an absolute storm in Shetland.
