The Milk-Eyed Mender

by

Joanna Newsom

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The Milk-Eyed Mender is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, released on March 23, 2004 on the Drag City label (see 2004 in music).

Joanna Newsom wrote all the songs on the album except for "Three Little Babes", a traditional Appalachian song by Texas Gladden. According to the liner notes, Joanna plays "a Lyon & Healy style 15 harp, a wurlitzer electric piano, a harpsichord, and piano."

A bandmate in San Francisco band The Pleased, Noah Georgeson, produced and recorded the album, as well as contributing guitar to two tracks and backing vocals to one. Cover art embroidery is by Emily Prince and photographs are by Alissa Anderson. Newsom thanks former touring partners Will Oldham, Devendra Banhart, and Vetiver, along with many others.

The album received largely positive reviews upon its release, earning Newsom several accolades that same year and by the end of the decade. In 2009, Pitchfork Media named The Milk-Eyed Mender the 47th greatest album of the 00's. The website also named "Peach, Plum, Pear" the 197th Greatest Song of the 2000s and "Sprout & The Bean" the 229th. Slant Magazine named the album the 83rd best album of its decade. The Milk-Eyed Mender was also ranked number 76 inside Tiny Mix Tapes's greatest records of the 2000s list.

According to The New York Times The Milk-Eyed Mender has sold more than 200,000 copies in the U.S., despite not charting.