Her “rippling Smoky Mountain voice” (WMOT) and GRAMMY-award winning fiddle playing have made Libby Weitnauer a fixture of Nashville’s Americana, indie, and country scenes. 2026 brings her highly anticipated full-length solo debut, Freehand. Made in three parts with producers Thomas Bryan Eaton, Will Johnson, and Andrija Tokic, the project was deftly woven together by GRAMMY-award winning mixing engineer Justin Francis. Freehand explores themes of love and self-forgiveness.

 

Raised in Maryville, Tennessee, Weitnauer honed her point of view in Chicago and New York City before returning to the Southeast, moving to Nashville in 2020. A winding musical path has taken her through symphonies, fiddler’s conventions, the Grand Ole Opry, New York City’s Broadway theaters, and beyond. Since landing in Music City, Weitnauer has toured and performed with acts like Kelsey Waldon and Margo Price; and she co-founded the critically-acclaimed indie folk-rock collective Dallas Ugly, the primary outlet for her songwriting until now. 

 

The release of Freehand marks Weitnauer’s first venture into sketching out her own LP.  Pedal steel, cascading vocal harmonies, and zippy orchestral strings intertwine with Weitnauer’s confident melodic sensibilities and unmistakable voice. Combining alt-country and folk pop influences, Freehand would feel right at home among “indie twang” Americana from the earliest days of the format. Weitnauer’s fantastic sonic dreamland might be pinpointed where the voices of Nanci Griffith and Iris DeMent meet the roots-adjacent genre agnosticism of Big Thief. 

Freehand is a mission statement. Libby Weitnauer’s contemplations and existential ponderings, lift up all who listen – and encourage each of us to loosen our grips and let go.