The Crane Wives have evolved from their folk roots — and they’re ready to introduce themselves to Long Island audiences.
The four-part band, coming to The Paramount in Huntington on Nov. 19, has 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify and is considered by many to be a staple of alternative music. But before they were a cornerstone of the 2010s folk revival, the Crane Wives were two college students — Emilee Petersmark and Kate Pillsbury — performing in the Chinese restaurant where they worked part-time. The duo, who each sing and play guitar, eventually merged with fellow Grand Valley State University students Tom Gunnel (banjo), who left the band in 2015, Dan Rickabus (percussion) and Ben Zito (bass).
For those curious about the band’s original influences, you need not look further than their name, which directly evokes The Decemberists’ critically acclaimed 2006 folk-rock album The Crane Wife. Other sources of inspiration included Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers and The Civil Wars.
“We started this band right about the time where the folk revival was kind of just cresting the wave, so to speak,” Petersmark told the Press. “And so we were really heavily influenced by that.”
But as the band has grown over the past 15 years, so has its sound. What began as firmly folk and folk-rock has since shifted into something a little less definable. Their latest album, “Beyond Beyond Beyond,” — released in 2024 after an eight-year hiatus — is gritty and driven in some places, delicate and reflective in others, and filled with turns of rhythm and harmony that surprise and captivate the listener from start to finish.
“We were very experimental with space and tone,” Zito said of the album. “Kind of going for the ethereal, trying to evoke some kind of sense of the unknown, sonically, while at the same time, kind of rooting it in our narrative lyricism that we have.
“I feel like we were kind of a little more cognizant of ear candy-type things and little fun splashes of something original-sounding that might pull your ear and keep it interesting.”
READ ALSO: Garden City’s Ava Nat finds her voice on NBC’s ‘The Voice’
That new sound — decidedly more rock-inspired — arose naturally as each of the band members grew as musicians and expanded their own listening preferences. Petersmark, for example, has leaned into the genre-bending sensibilities of Mitski and Fiona Apple, while Zito is drawn to alt-rock icons like Radiohead and My Morning Jacket. As the four band members diversified their individual tastes, they found their collective sound evolving into something new.
“And so I feel like part of trying to hone in on that vibe for this record was trying to demonstrate how the sound had changed from being purely folk or folk-rock into something that’s a little bit more diverse,” Petersmark said.
That vibe — ethereal, atmospheric and a touch whimsical — is not only auditory during The Crane Wives’ current tour, but visual, too. The stage is adorned with artful projections and set pieces that invite the audience into an immersive fantasy world during the show.
The high energy of The Crane Wives’ live performances is part of what keeps fans coming back again and again, but the community formed around their concerts is just as part of the magic as the music itself, Petersmark and Zito said. Fans show up early to exchange bracelets; they chat in a dedicated server on Discord; they make friends before, during and after the show.
“Our audience is full of some of the most kind and considerate people in the entire world,” Petersmark said. “So you’re probably going to meet a lot of really nice people who are excited and singing along at the top of their lungs, which is amazing.”
“You just see them from the stage, to see them having the best night of their lives — It’s special, man, I tell you,” Zito added.
Even as the hype in the venue reaches peak heights, people in the audience remain friendly and thoughtful toward one another. Some have been fans since The Crane Wives first entered the scene 15 years ago, while others discovered the band more recently.
“Those fans, a lot of them are so young that it’s their first concert ever,” Peterson said. “And so there’s something like truly special about that energy of somebody who is experiencing something for the first time. And so it feels like a huge responsibility and a huge honor to be able to be that first concert for so many people.
“So we really try to create an environment at our shows that is welcoming and comfortable, while also still being lots of fun.”
The Crane Wives are performing at The Paramount in Huntington on Nov. 19. For more information, visit paramountny.com.
