About
Girl Love is the solo folk project of Laura Beth Johnson. Laura is an award winning poet and songwriter based in Upstate New York. She is known for her dark blend of story and soul. Girl Love’s mission is to affirm queer holiness through folkish music. Winner of The Folk Project’s New Jersey Songwriter’s Contest, Laura holds a Bachelor’s in Writing and Communications from Houghton College. Her debut, indie-folk album, The Sorrow Estate, was released in 2016 boasting haunting melodies and brash vocals. A spoken word performance on the album titled ‘Crazy and Special’ was awarded the Lucy Monroe Brooker Poetry Prize in 2017.
In 2019, Laura was awarded a Songwriting Scholarship by Image Magazine. She received a Poetry Scholarship from Hudson Valley Writers Guild in 2022 and a Songwriting Scholarship from Music Masters Collective in 2024. She was also chosen as one of the ten Capital Region Songwriters to attend the 2024 INK Songwriter's Retreat by SongCity of Troy. In 2023, Laura released her sophomore album titled “Girl Love” to a sold out crowd at legendary folk venue, Caffe Lena. Laura has shared the stage with Mary Gauthier, Laurie MacAllister of Red Molly, and Sawyer Fredericks.
Praise for Girl Love
“Girl Love’s music sounds like if God and the Devil reconciled their differences and did what they always really wanted to do, which is start a polycule. There’s a worship of the smutty, a tarnishing of the sacred, and it all rides on the silver crest of her voice, which turns even the most casual utterance into a bold intonation.”
— Dustin Lowman, Singer-Songwriter
“(Girl Love’s) warm legato style lent itself to the intimate setting, beckoning listeners to lean in and join the moment she was creating, a glimpse of the artist at work… a one of a kind experience full of raw emotion, community, and a certain kind of magic.”
— Rory Graham of Metroland Now on the making of Altar (Live at Mount Ida)
“Girl Love’s lyrics are captivating, poetic, and infused with honesty and heart. Her voice and presence are ethereal and mysterious to me, but at the same time she feels like an old friend. She’s up there in the clouds and down here on earth, all at once.”