How a South-African-born songwriter who spends his days farming in Colorado makes some of the most quietly cinematic, star-gazing folk music in America.
The Short Version
Who Is This?
Gregory Alan Isakov is a singer-songwriter, born in South Africa and based in Colorado, who makes hushed, atmospheric indie-folk. He is also, famously, a working farmer, tending a market garden between tours, and that grounded, seasonal, close-to-the-land quality seeps into everything he records.
Two things make him singular. First, the atmosphere: his records are spacious and cinematic, built from acoustic guitar, brushed drums, and glowing washes of sound, less about hooks than about mood and place. Second, the imagery: his lyrics are full of stars, weather, trains, oceans, and open country, poetic without being fussy.
He is folk at the root, but dreamier and more produced than a traditional singer-songwriter, closer to Iron & Wine or Nick Drake than to bluegrass. If you love acoustic music that feels like a long drive under a big night sky, start here.
The farm and the songs grow in the same soil.From Johannesburg to a Colorado Farm
The Story
Isakov's path is unusual: a childhood on two continents, a horticulture degree, and a music career he has always kept deliberately in balance with life on the land.
1979
Born in Johannesburg
Isakov was born in South Africa and emigrated to the United States as a child, eventually settling in Colorado, where the wide landscapes would shape his writing.
2007
That Sea, the Gambler
An early album that laid out his template: spare, poetic, and atmospheric, with a voice that always seemed to be confiding rather than performing.
2009
This Empty Northern Hemisphere
A breakthrough record with guest Brandi Carlile, home to fan favorites like "Big Black Car" and "That Moon Song." His audience grew steadily from here.
2013
The Weatherman
Widely considered his masterpiece: "The Stable Song," "Amsterdam," and "Saint Valentine" made it the record most fans point newcomers toward.
2018
Evening Machines
A darker, more electric and textured album that earned a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album and pushed his atmospheric side further.
2023
Appaloosa Bones
A warm, road-and-land-minded record, also Grammy-nominated, that gathered his strengths into one of his most complete albums.
The wide Colorado country that fills the songs.Three Songs, One Education
Start Here
Three songs across the arc: the song most fans love best, an early favorite, and a recent title track. Listen in order.
01 · The One to Play First
"The Stable Song" — 2013
From The Weatherman, and for many the definitive Isakov song, here in its lush version with the Colorado Symphony. Hushed, hymnal, and quietly overwhelming.
02 · The Early Favorite
"Big Black Car" — 2009
One of his most beloved songs, a slow, aching drive of a ballad. The clearest early example of his cinematic, wide-open sound.
03 · The Now
"Appaloosa Bones" — 2023
The title track from his most recent album, warm and road-worn, showing how steady and self-assured his sound has become.
The Studio Catalog
The Albums 5 to start with
A patient, atmospheric catalog that rewards deep listening. The gold-topped cards mark the best entry points; the moss-green marks the earliest era. Note that his landmark The Weatherman is not currently on Apple Music, so seek it out elsewhere.
2005
Songs for October
An early, self-released collection that shows the seeds of everything: hushed voice, spare guitar, and a strong sense of season and place.
One curated YouTube Music playlist gathering the essentials across the catalog, including songs from The Weatherman. (Ideally, though, spend time with these albums whole.) Hit the button below to play it.
Gregory Alan Isakov is a solo artist, though his records are built with a close circle of collaborators and a real attention to production and space. His voice is soft and unhurried, almost always sounding like it is being sung to you alone, and he surrounds it with brushed drums, warm guitars, and glowing washes of sound.
The defining fact of his life is the farm. Isakov studied horticulture and runs a market garden in Colorado, deliberately keeping music and farming in balance rather than chasing fame full-time. That rhythm, seasonal, patient, tied to the land, is audible in the unhurried pace and the recurring imagery of weather, harvest, and sky.
The writing is quietly literary. His lyrics lean on concrete images, trains, oceans, stars, cars, headlights, more than on direct statement, so the songs feel like landscapes you can wander through. He trusts mood and space to carry meaning, which is why his records reward close, immersive listening.
What makes him worth following is the consistency of the world he has built. Album to album, he refines the same atmospheric, star-gazing sound rather than reinventing it, deepening a single vision until it feels less like a discography than like one long, unhurried body of work.
Songs made in the quiet hours, close to the land.The Roots of the Sound
Influences
Isakov draws on a lineage of poetic, atmospheric songwriters who value image and mood over volume. Here are four touchstones.
The Poet
Leonard Cohen
Cohen's spare, image-heavy, deeply poetic songwriting is a clear ancestor to Isakov's own literary, unhurried lyrics.
Isakov is a soft-spoken, thoughtful talker who lights up when he discusses farming and songcraft. A short reflection on inspiration, and a public-radio studio conversation.
Interview · GRAMMYs
Where the Songs Come From
A short Recording Academy conversation in which Isakov talks about where he finds inspiration, and how the farm and the writing feed each other.
A public-radio studio session pairing stripped-down performances with a conversation about his writing, his roots, and the balance of music and farming.
Once the records have you, there is more to explore around his catalog.
The Weatherman — his 2013 masterpiece is hard to find on some streaming services but essential; track it down if you fall for the sound.
Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony — a lush 2016 album re-recording his songs with a full orchestra, gorgeous and expansive.
The Brandi Carlile connection — her guest work on his breakthrough is a doorway into a whole overlapping world of modern americana.
The live show — his concerts turn the atmosphere up even higher; seek out a recorded live session to feel the full immersion.
The Way to Listen
If you can find it, start with The Weatherman on headphones, at night, driving or still. If you cannot, This Empty Northern Hemisphere is the next best door in, and streams everywhere.
