Lucy Dacus

Dacus was adopted as an infant and grew up in Mechanicsville, Virginia, a suburb of Richmond.[2][3] She is of Uzbek and Irish descent.[4] Her adoptive mother is a professional pianist and music teacher, and her adoptive father is a graphic designer.[3][5] Dacus had an early interest in music, and bought her first guitar, an Ibanez, from Craigslist when she was in middle school.[2] After graduating from Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in 2013,[5] she began studying film at Virginia Commonwealth University, but left to pre-emptively eliminate future issues with student debt and estrangement.[6][7] After moving back to Virginia, she was employed with Richmond Camera as an editor for children's school photos. This proved to be a prolific creative period for Dacus,[8] who wrote approximately 30 songs during this time, nine of which would comprise the tracklist of No Burden.[6]

Dacus first performed in New York City in March 2015.[9] Her first single, "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore," premiered in November 2015. Her debut album, No Burden, was produced in Nashville by her hometown friends, Berklee College of Music graduate Collin Pastore and Oberlin Conservatory of Music graduate Jacob Blizard;[10][11] it was recorded at the request of Blizard for a school project.[6] The album was originally released digitally on CD, and on vinyl via Richmond's EggHunt Records on February 26, 2016.[10][11] Dacus was then signed to Matador Records, who re-released the album on September 9, 2016.[12][13][14] In the same year she performed at Lollapalooza, in Chicago's Grant Park and made her national television debut on CBS This Morning.[15] She recorded a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR the same weekend.[16] In October 2016 she played the London Calling festival in Amsterdam, as a replacement for The Duke Spirit, who were forced to cancel.[17]

Dacus's second album, entitled Historian, was released on March 2, 2018.[18] Like its predecessor, it was met with widespread critical acclaim. Writing for Pitchfork, Sasha Gessen praised its nuance and sensitivity: "It’s not an easy album to wear out. It lasts, and it should, given that so many of its lyrics pick at time, and the way time condenses around deep emotional attachments to other people." Rolling Stone rated the album 4/5 stars, as did NME. Historian, like No Burden, was recorded in Nashville, at Trace Horse Studio, in a similar collaborative effort by Lucy Dacus, Jacob Blizard, and Collin Pastore.

In 2018, Dacus, along with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, formed the group Boygenius. They released three songs in August 2018 and subsequently announced an EP and tour.[19] The EP, titled boygenius, came out on October 26, 2018.

To coincide with Valentine's Day 2019, Dacus released a cover of "La Vie en rose", the first in a planned series of songs commemorating major holidays.[20]

In 2021, Dacus announced her third album, titled Home Video, which was released on June 25.[21] She performed one of the album's singles "Hot & Heavy" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on April 13.[22] On November 10, Dacus released her single "Thumbs Again", a re-release of her song "Thumbs" with additional instrumentation, alongside the announcement of 2022 US tour dates.[23] On February 2, 2022, Dacus released a single “Kissing Lessons”, which was accompanied by a music video.

After Texas' new abortion law went into effect on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, Dacus announced on Twitter that all the money she makes at her upcoming shows in Texas "will be going towards abortion funds." She also informed her fans to bring extra money to her Houston and San Antonio shows for the donation to the abortion funds.[24]

Dacus was raised Christian but has since become irreligious.[25] She describes herself as queer, and says that the word closest to her sexuality is either bisexual or pansexual.[2] Dacus lived in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia, until late 2019. As of June 2021, she resides in Philadelphia.[2]

• Official website