Feeling lost in the cosmos? Welcome to the wonderfully strange world of Judy Blank, the Dutch singersongwriter whose music has always existed somewhere between continents, decades and genres. Born and raised in the Netherlands and now based in Austin, Texas, Blank first fell in love with America through classic cinema: desert sunsets, endless highways and misfits searching for meaning. That fascination eventually pulled her to Nashville, where she recorded her ’70s-inspired debut album Morning Sun. The record brought her international attention, praise from Elton John and an RIAA Gold Award for her breakout folk ballad Tangled Up in You. Soon after, she became the first Dutch artist ever to perform at AmericanaFest in Nashville.

Since moving to the United States, Blank has built a life on the road, appearing at festivals including Austin City Limits Music Festival, SXSW and Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion. She has toured extensively across the U.S. and Europe, sharing stages with artists including Bryan Adams, SUSTO, The Heavy Heavy and Wild Child. Last year, Blank signed with legendary American roots label Rounder Records and released Big Mood, a colorful, existential coming-of-age record where ’60s fuzz, ’70s songwriting and ’80s synths collide. The album and its singles earned attention from Variety, Clash Magazine and No Depression, landed Blank in Spotify’s Fresh Folk Top 10, and further established her as an artist who is increasingly difficult to categorize. Her music has also found a home on American independent radio, including Austin’s KUTX and Nashville’s Lightning 100.

But Blank’s story has never belonged to one country. Long before moving to the United States, she began traveling alone through Mexico in her early twenties. She arrived speaking virtually no Spanish and became determined to learn. What began as curiosity turned into years of returning to the country, falling in love with its people, language and music along the way. From cumbia rehearsals in Xalapa to street music in Oaxaca and long stretches of life on the road, Mexico quietly became part of her creative DNA. That relationship is now opening a new chapter in Blank’s music. On August 21, 2026, she will release JUEGOS, her first-ever Spanish-language release and the first glimpse of STAR VIVA, an upcoming five-song EP that reimagines songs from Big Mood in Spanish. Rather than literal translations, the songs were rewritten to live naturally in a new language, shaped by the years Blank spent traveling through Mexico and the friendships, music and experiences she found there.

Blank remains hard to pin down. But beneath all of it is the same thing: sharp storytelling about love, growing up, mental health, climate anxiety and the strange business of trying to stay human. Nostalgic without living in the past, shaped by a life lived between the Netherlands, the United States and Mexico, Judy Blank has built a world entirely her own. Press play, roll credits. The story is still unfolding.