Americana singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anna Graves is officially entering a new chapter with the release of her highly anticipated debut album, America’s Greatest Burnout, out today via Rounder Records.
Despite its self-deprecating title, America’s Greatest Burnout is anything but a portrait of defeat. Instead, the album finds Graves looking back on the past decade with remarkable candor, tracing the setbacks, self-doubt and hard-earned lessons that ultimately shaped the artist she is today.
Graves has already amassed more than 70 million global streams, steadily building a devoted audience through songs including “Hollow Bones,” which Shaboozey selected among his five favorite songs for Harper’s Bazaar. Her 2024 EP Solstice expanded that reach, with “Fly” finding a massive new audience after appearing in a pivotal scene in the Golden Globe-nominated Netflix series Nobody Wants This.
Her music has since landed sync placements in additional television projects, including Netflix’s globally top-10-charting drama Ripple, Brilliant Minds and Chicken Sisters. On the live front, Graves has shared stages with artists including Stevie Nicks, The Head and the Heart and Maren Morris, further establishing her as an emerging force within the Americana landscape.
Produced by Davis Naish, whose credits include Maggie Rose and Eric Church, America’s Greatest Burnout embraces the vulnerability that has defined Graves’ songwriting from the beginning. Rooted in Americana while weaving together elements of country, folk and pop, the album pairs timeless songwriting with an intensely personal perspective. At its core, the record is a musical autobiography. “America’s Greatest Burnout is the story of falling off the horse and picking yourself back up again as an adult, and reevaluating what success means to you,” Graves says. “It’s about learning to fall into the dirt, finding the courage to dust yourself off, and getting up to do it all over again…stumbling forward, perhaps a bit scuffed, dirty, and bruised, but wiser and stronger than ever.” That connection to the natural world is central to Graves’ creative identity. In an era increasingly defined by technology, she draws inspiration from the pristine countryside of Minnesota, the farm where she was raised and the rescue horses she helps foster.
Music has been part of that landscape since childhood. Graves began writing songs and poems in the first grade and picked up the guitar at 11. Raised by an artist mother and Air Force father, she grew up without a television, but with a radio that was almost always playing. Those early sounds introduced her to distinct songwriting voices including Tracy Chapman, Bonnie Raitt, Alanis Morissette and Tom Petty, while artists such as Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell and fellow Minnesota native Bob Dylan would go on to influence her approach to songwriting. That lineage comes into sharp focus on the album’s focus track, “Jaded Songbirds.” The piano-driven song represents what Graves calls her “Tori Amos moment,” confronting the lingering doubts and emotional weight that can accompany a life spent chasing a creative dream. “I was on the piano and feeling like I was letting out so many pent-up emotions,” Graves says. “It’s about truly believing myself and realizing that you have the ability to come back to yourself again. It gives me confidence whenever I sing it.”
Graves has spent the weeks leading into the album release steadily unveiling its songs, including the title track “America’s Greatest Burnout,” “Goldmine,” “Damn in Love,” “Ashes & Smoke,” “Burn On” and “Hollow Bones.” Together, the releases have offered an increasingly clear picture of the album’s sonic and emotional range. Following the title track’s arrival, FLAUNT described Graves as having “skyrocketed in the music sector as an Americana potpourri of country, pop, and alt-folk,” underscoring the genre-blurring quality that has become central to her sound. The album release also arrives during a major stretch for Graves professionally. She officially kicked off the America’s Greatest Burnout celebrations with an intimate performance and release party at Nashville’s iconic Bluebird Cafe, before heading toward another milestone: her Grand Ole Opry debut on Tuesday, Aug. 25, as part of the “Opry 100: Summer of the Century” concert series.
The Opry invitation was itself a memorable surprise. During a recent trip to New York City, Graves stopped by iHeartRadio for an acoustic performance and interview with Z100, where she was surprised with the news of her upcoming Grand Ole Opry debut. With America’s Greatest Burnout now out in the world, Graves will take the album on the road this fall for her debut headlining tour. The America’s Greatest Burnout Tour launches Wednesday, Sept. 9, in Decatur, Ga., and will visit 17 cities across North America, including Boston, Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, before wrapping Oct. 17 in Toronto. For Graves, the album represents more than a debut. It is a reckoning with where she has been — and a declaration that getting knocked down is not the same thing as staying down. After a decade of growing, stumbling, rebuilding and finding her voice, America’s Greatest Burnout finds Anna Graves doing exactly what its songs promise: getting back on the horse.