The Head and the Heart

About

Also known as: The Head & the Heart

Few bands can say their debut sold out local record stores before they even had a label deal, but The Head and the Heart pulled it off with self burned copies in handmade denim sleeves. The Seattle indie folk group built a following through open mic nights at a Ballard pub, signed with Sub Pop after a label feeding frenzy, and eventually landed on the Billboard 200 with a sound that critics compared to The Avett Brothers meeting Fleet Foxes. Their songs "Rivers and Roads" and "Sounds Like Hallelujah" became fan staples, and "Rivers and Roads" later turned up in the finales of Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, and New Girl. The band has kept evolving through lineup shifts and personal upheaval. Founding member Josiah Johnson stepped back from touring during the Signs of Light cycle to address addiction, and the group carried on as a six piece. Their fifth album Every Shade of Blue arrived in 2022, and their sixth, Aperture, came out in 2025 on Verve Forecast Records, described as more introspective with expansive arrangements.