Madeline Hawthorne

“Stepping with boots she’s breaking in / Running on dreams and adrenaline,” Madeline Hawthorne sings at the top of her remarkable solo debut, Boots. “Hit the pavement walk a mile / Don’t know what she’s doing and it makes her smile.”  “I’ve always had to learn by doing, by taking these leaps of faith,” Hawthorne
explains. “It only felt right to kick off the album with a character who’s finding her own way, someone who’s enjoying the process of having no idea what she’s doing and just believing in herself regardless.”

Born to a classical vocalist mother and a concert conductor father, Hawthorne was surrounded by music throughout her childhood in New England, but she never considered it a viable career path until she landed in Montana, where she launched The Hawthorne Roots in 2014. The group quickly built a loyal following—The Bozeman Daily Chronicle hailed the five-piece’s “tightly woven harmonies and relentlessly catchy melodies,” while Bozeman Magazine readers voted them Best New Band and Best Folk Performers—and toured throughout the West, earning dates with the likes of Nicki Bluhm and Dustbowl Revival and landing festival slots from Targhee and Yarmony to Red Ants Pants and Big Sky Big Grass before going their separate ways in 2020.