Sometimes the best way to evaluate an artist is by asking their peers.
Respect amongst your contemporaries, adulation amongst your fellow artists indicates how a songwriter is viewed by those who make music on a daily basis.
Well, how's this for a compliment: Tom Waits is a huge fan of Jolie Holland. Both are signed to ANTI Records, and the gravel-voiced American has frequently praised Holland's work.
Perhaps that's inevitable. After all, Jolie Holland's work – poetic yet searingly visceral – seems to come from a similar emotional place at Tom Waits' output.
Often bracingly honest, her work never flinches from stark truth, never shies from uncomfortable truths. New album 'Wine Dark Sea' is due to be released on May 19th, and it's another gritty instalment from the American artist.
Much like the wine of the title, Jolie Holland's work seems to become more refined with each passing year, each flavouring sharpening, ripening into something quite distinct.
With Doug Wieselman (Lou Redd, Antony and the Johnsons), Indigo Street and others on show, 'Wine Dark Sea' is the sound of minds truly coming together.
Out next week, you can listen to it first on Clash.
