Ken Pomeroy will break your heart.She’ll do it with a single line––sometimes, just one word. The pain begins as an empathetic ache. Then, as Pomeroy sings her stories,you begin to see yourself in her hurt and hope. And you realize: We’re in this together.

Pomeroy’s outstretched hand to the wounded manifests as startlingly good songs. Hersoprano is comforting––almost sweet––but perhaps most powerful delivering a devastating line. A deft guitarist, she opts for beds of rootsy strings that can soothe orhaunt. But it’s her writing that really shines and stings.Raised in Moore, Oklahoma, Pomeroy is Cherokee.

Her mamaw gave her the nameᎤᏍᏗᏀᏯᏓᎶᏂᎨᎤᏍᏗᎦ, which means “Little Wolf with Yellow Hair.” Existing in theintersection of past, present and future; Pomeroy effortlessly channels the ancestralwisdom of her elders and her lived experience through her lyrical and instrumentalcomposition. Writing as a cathartic release culminated in Pomeroy’s new album, Cruel Joke, released May 16, 2025 on Rounder Records. The 12-track indie-folk collection creates a wild but safe space of Pomeroy’s own––a space that, like 23-year-old Pomeroy herself, is brutally honest, proudly Native American, and undeniably brilliant.People have noticed. Pomeroy’s “Wall of Death” made its way onto the Twisters soundtrack, while Hulu’s Reservation Dogs featured her soul-mining gem, “Cicadas,” and The Low Down features Pomeroy performing “Bound to Rain.”

Tour dates with Lukas Nelson, Iron & Wine, I’m With Her, American Aquarium, John Moreland and more have followed along with stops at the Newport Folk Festival and Telluride Bluegrass Festival. “A lot of really cool things are happening, but it hasn’t set in. I haven’t had time to bask in it,” Pomeroy says. “Even when I started playing music, I never thought, ‘I’m a musician. I chose this life.’ I feel like something way above mepointed at me and said, ‘Okay, here’s your path.’ And I’ve just been following it kind of blindly ever since.