Laura Cortese (US) returns with ‘Lucky Water’, announcing her first album in six years

New single “Lucky Water” is the first taste of Laura Cortese’s upcoming album, out October 9 via Compass Records. The sparkling folk-pop song is a bittersweet ode to family, memories, and the traditions we pass on. Cortese draws on an annual family hike in Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, a tradition that dates back to her mother’s birth. Now living in Ghent for almost a decade and making the trip only every other year, the memory carries an added emotional weight: “Lucky Water” is about missing family, while also wanting to pass those rituals on to her own children.

LAURA CORTESE

Born and raised in California, Laura Cortese fell in love with the fiddle at an early age. She initially immersed herself in Celtic and Scottish music before continuing her musical education at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, she became part of the vibrant American folk and roots scene, developing into a versatile fiddler, singer, songwriter, and bandleader.

Since then, Cortese has built an impressive international career, both as a solo artist and with her band The Dance Cards. Her albums have received widespread acclaim and have taken her to stages ranging from Carnegie Hall to Madison Square Garden. She has performed and collaborated with artists including Pete Seeger, Band of Horses, The Mountain Goats, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Aoife O'Donovan and Uncle Earl. Maverick Magazine described her as “an amazing talent.”

Her musical work extends far beyond the stage. As a musical ambassador for the U.S. State Department, Cortese toured India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Estonia, Greece, Ukraine, and Montenegro. At the same time, she has become a passionate educator and advocate for folk and roots music. She co-founded the Boston Celtic Music Festival and Miles of Music Camp, and has taught at Newcastle University and the University of Limerick, as well as at workshops and music camps led by renowned musicians such as Alasdair Fraser and Mark O'Connor.

Cortese is now firmly rooted in Belgium. Since 2018, she has been based in Ghent, where she has become an active force in the local folk and music scene. She played fiddle and contributed backing vocals to Bony King’s "Wild Flowers" and hosts her own annual Acoustic Evenings concert series. In 2025, the series received a Flanders Folk Horizons Award, recognizing her contribution to the Belgian folk and music scene.

Although the fiddle has always been at the heart of her music, Cortese resists being confined by genre. Her playing is rhythmic, energetic, and at times almost percussive, while her voice moves from powerful and raw to warm and intimate. Traditional folk is an important starting point, but Cortese effortlessly blends it with roots rock, indie, and contemporary songwriting. “Strings are at the core of what I do. Genre is secondary,” she says.

On October 9, 2026, Cortese will release "Lucky Water", her first album in six years. The album marks a new chapter in her musical and personal journey. As an American who has found a home in Belgium and as a musician constantly moving between traditions and worlds, Cortese explores themes of identity, connection, and belonging. The songs move between chamber folk, roots rock and indie pop, with the fiddle as a common thread throughout.

With "Lucky Water", Laura Cortese once again shows that tradition need not be an endpoint, but can instead be a starting point. She brings together the musical stories and techniques she grew up with, the influences and experiences she has gathered along the way, and turns them into something contemporary and distinctly her own: folk with an American soul, an international outlook and a new home in Belgium.