The National’s Aaron Dessner Details His Writing/Producing Credits on Taylor Swift’s “folklore”

The album, surprise-released today, features Dessner on eleven of its tracks.
The National’s Aaron Dessner Details His Writing/Producing Credits on Taylor Swift’s “folklore”

The album, surprise-released today, features Dessner on eleven of its tracks.

Words: Mike LeSuer

photo by Molly Adams

July 24, 2020

The National / photo by Molly Adams

Aaron Dessner’s been picking up production side gigs outside his main role as guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for The National for about a decade now (in addition to fronting Antifa), working with the likes of Michael Stipe, Bon Iver, and Sharon Van Etten in that time. But Dessner reached a new tier of superstar today when Taylor Swift dropped her eighth studio album folklore with hardly any warning, employing Dessner on over half the record’s tracks.

He’s billed alongside fellow National member Bryan Devendorf, as well as Justin Vernon and Bonny Light Horseman’s Josh Kaufman, in the record’s liner notes, which credit him not only as a producer, but also for providing piano, acoustic and electric guitar, Mellotron, slide guitar, percussion, and more. “I’m so very proud of all these songs and profoundly grateful to Taylor for inviting me into and trusting me in her process,” he shared in a press statement this morning. “She is one of the most talented, hardworking and deeply caring artists I’ve ever encountered. There’s a palpable humanity and warmth and raw emotion in these songs that I hope you’ll love as much as I do.”

You can stream the full album below, if you haven’t already. See if you can guess which eleven tracks Aaron’s on.