Lucy Dacus

Singer and songwriter Lucy Dacus' rich, buttery voice commands both her thoughtful indie rock tunes and more intimate confessionals. Emerging from Richmond, Virginia's indie scene in the mid-2010s, she broke through the blogosphere and onto major indie outlets with lead single "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore" from her 2016 debut album, No Burden. It showcased the songwriter's playful and also heartrendingly candid way with words. The critical success of the more dramatic follow-up, Historian, in 2018 was followed the same year by membership in Boygenius, a trio with similarly lauded contemporaries Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers. Dacus' more tender and more autobiographical third solo album, Home Video, arrived in 2021 and landed just outside the top half of the Billboard 200. As Boygenius' popularity surged, Dacus' first appearance in the Top Five came in 2023 with her trio's Grammy- and Brit Award-winning full-length debut, The Record. Her Boygenius bandmates, Hozier, and album co-producer Blake Mills were among the guests on Dacus' adult-relationship-themed fourth solo outing, 2025's Forever Is a Feeling, her major-label debut. A companion set subtitled The Archives arrived later in year and featured new material along with alternate versions.Born and raised in Mechanicsville just outside of Richmond, Dacus grew up singing; her mother was a music teacher. She began writing regularly in her journal in the sixth grade and attended concerts and connected with the Richmond music scene throughout high school. After graduating, she tried studying film at Virginia Commonwealth University with a plan to make music on the side, but soon dropped out to concentrate on writing songs. Dacus' debut was put together relatively last-minute when a friend who worked at Starstruck Studio in Nashville let her know they had an open day. She had assembled a band from area musicians in guitarist Jacob Blizard, bass player Christine Moad, and drummer Hayden Cotcher, and the songs, which had been written solo, were arranged for the quartet in the week leading up to a ten-hour recording session. The friend at the studio, Collin Pastore, engineered and mixed the album, which was co-produced by Dacus, Pastore, and Blizard. Richmond label Egghunt Records took interest in the results, including late 2015's "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore," and released No Burden in early 2016. The album quickly received buzz in the indie music press, and the band did an Audiotree Live session in March that was released as a digital EP. That June, the 21-year-old Dacus signed with Matador Records, which reissued No Burden in September 2016. She then toured with acts including the Decemberists, Sylvan Esso, and Car Seat Headrest before returning to the studio with the same team to record her second album. Featuring a similar demeanor but fleshier arrangements, Historian saw release in March 2018 and reached number five on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Later that year, Dacus formed the collaborative indie supergroup Boygenius with fellow singer/songwriters Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers, releasing a self-titled EP in October and then embarking on a three-way co-headlining tour. On Valentine's Day 2019, Dacus released a cover of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose," the first in a series of holiday-themed original songs and covers that coincided with select occasions throughout the year. They were collected on the EP 2019, issued by Matador that November. During 2020, Dacus started writing and recording her third album, which looked back at her coming-of-age experiences for lyrical inspiration. The resulting Home Video was released in June 2021 and accompanied by opening slots for Bright Eyes and Shakey Graves as well as a headlining tour. The critically acclaimed LP appeared on several charts both at home and abroad, peaking at 104 on the Billboard 200. The tongue-in-cheek "Kissing Lessons," which was recorded during the sessions for Home Video, appeared on Valentine's Day the following year.Dacus rejoined Boygenius in the studio for their full-length debut. Written both separately and together, it showcased a unified front, with the three songwriter's voices meshing to create a hefty, hooky, and slightly bittersweet album. Titled The Record, it was released on Interscope in March 2023 and went as high as number four on the Billboard 200 while charting internationally, including topping the charts in the Netherlands, the U.K., and Ireland. The album went on to win Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammys, while their song "Not Strong Enough" took home the trophies for Best Rock Song and Rock Performance; the band collected the Brit Award for best international group. They followed it up with a folkier four-song EP, the rest, that October. In the meantime, the group's escalating popularity was reflected in a tour that included a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. Over the course of Boygenius' rise, Dacus contributed to some of her bandmates' solo work, including Bridgers' Punisher (2020) and Baker's Little Oblivion (2021), and Dacus' next solo LP included appearances from both of them in addition to a feature spot by Hozier and contributions from Blake Mills, Bartees Strange, Madison Cunningham, and Jay Som's Melina Duterte, among others. Turning her focus from her youth to navigating complex contemporary relationships, the resulting Forever Is a Feeling was co-produced by Mills and released on Geffen Records in March 2025. After her performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier in the year, the single "Ankles" marked her debut in the Top Ten of the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart and the rock airplay Top 40. Later that year, Dacus compiled various demos, alternate versions, and new songs like "Bus Back to Richmond" into the companion album Forever Is a Feeling: The Archives.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo