Renowned singer-songwriter and producer extraordinaire, M. Ward has been a fixture in the Portland folk scene where he’s been creating heart wrenchingly beautiful songs in a city that lends itself to introspection and subtlety. Known for his swooning voice and angelic guitar strumming, M.’s 2003 release, Transfiguration of Vincent, caught the attention of fans and future collaborators, including Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Jenny Lewis, Neko Case, Cat Power, Gillian Welch and Jim James (My Morning Jacket). Since 2003, M. has released several critically acclaimed albums, 2005’s Transistor Radio and his breakthrough release Post –War from 2007. He was also the Him in She & Him, the hugely popular collaboration with She – Zooey Deschanel. He released his most recent album, Hold Time (Merge Records) in 2009 which Entertainment Weekly called “timeless, a musical wanderer’s dust, train-hopping tour through folk, blues, and country.”

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In the three years since Ward released Hold Time, he’s toured the globe, released two albums as one half of Grammy-nominated duo She & Him as well as one with the talented group of friends collectively know as Monsters Of Folk. Merge Records will release Ward’s highly anticipated sixth solo album, A Wasteland Companion, on April 10, 2012. Inspired by his increasingly itinerant lifestyle Ward set forth to create something of a musical travelogue. He explains, “Between now and when I made Hold Time there has been a lot of traveling which requires a lot of reckoning with what to leave behind and what to carry – material and otherwise – and thinking about what I want versus what I need, creatively and otherwise. I wanted to get a reflection of that on the album. It was a process of stripping away my security blanket, which is the same four walls I always record in.” Ward’s honey-soaked vocals, deft finger-picking, innate sense of melody and beguiling lyrics have already cemented his reputation as one of America’s true musical treasures and A Wasteland Companion features some of the finest songwriting and most striking delivery of his career. With each and every recording Ward finds new ways to make the colors of his songwriting palate sparkle and his dexterous skills as producer, arranger, guitarist and singer seem to burst into even brighter bloom on each release.