Gregory Alan Isakov

Born on 19 October 1979 in Johannesburg, South Africa, indie-folk balladeer Gregory Alan Isakov immigrated to the US in 1986 and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he took his first musical steps in a touring band before relocating to Colorado. He made his solo foray with 2003 debut Rust Colored Stones—released on his own independent imprint, Suitcase Town Music—with its self-released successor, Songs for October, following in 2005. In 2007, he self-released That Sea, the Gambler with This Empty Northern Hemisphere arriving in 2009. Gregory Alan Isakov's breakthrough came in 2013 with the release of mountain folk opus The Weatherman, which was recorded in solitude in Nederland, Colorado and featured Nathaniel Rateliff on background vocal. The LP cracked the US Billboard 200. His career went from strength to strength after that, with the 2018 album Evening Machines picking up a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album and his 2023 full-length Appaloosa Bones—which arrived following a five-year hiatus—peaking at number 81 on the US Billboard 200.