Folk Bitch Trio’s Timeless Music Will Transport You

This interview is part of our Future of Music 2026 series. Follow all the coverage here.

Folk Bitch Trio make music that feels like it could have arrived at any point in the past 60 years and still made perfect sense.

The Melbourne trio, made up of Gracie Sinclair, Jeanie Pilkington, and Heide Peverelle, began singing together after meeting in high school, forming properly in 2020 with the release of their debut single “Houselights”.

Five years later, they released Now Would Be a Good Time, a debut album that sounds both gently old-world and unmistakably present.

There is an obvious timelessness to their sound, with close harmonies, acoustic arrangements, and the kind of vocal chemistry that can make a room go quiet.

Their songs could sit comfortably alongside early ’60s Greenwich Village folk, the indie-folk revival of the 2010s, or the current world of Boygenius, Julia Jacklin and Angie McMahon.

Phoebe Bridgers herself summed it up neatly, calling them “Boygenius if it was from the ’40s or something.”

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But Folk Bitch Trio are not a nostalgia act. Their songwriting is full of modern nerves, sharp humour, and the emotional mess of being young and hyper-aware. Now Would Be a Good Time is delicate without being precious, intimate without feeling small, and often funny in the places you least expect.

The industry has taken notice. Now Would Be a Good Time earned nominations at the Australian Music Prize, the ARIA Awards and the J Awards, where Folk Bitch Trio won Unearthed Artist of the Year. With a Jagjaguwar signing behind them and APRA recognition following close behind, Folk Bitch Trio are no longer one of Australia’s best-kept secrets.

Read an exclusive interview with Folk Bitch Trio below.

Rolling Stone AU/NZ: What does it mean to you to be included in Rolling Stone’s Future of Music series

Folk Bitch Trio: We’re all very pleased to be considered to be moving in the right direction… the future! 

How did you first get your start in music? 

We started singing in the bedroom and around the kitchen table the summer we finished high school, filling the long days with gags and sharing our first songs. We got offered a gig, and then another, and the ball kept rolling. 

Describe your sound to a new listener in three words.

Folk Bitch Trio.

Tell us about your latest release. 

We put out our debut record Now Would Be a Good Time in July last year, and since [then we] have toured it around the world nearly nonstop. It’s a horse we can’t believe hasn’t bucked us off yet. One hell of a ride.

What’s your favourite career memory so far?

All the ones that can’t be in print. After that, every time we realise it’s all real. Keeping up the ‘ratbags having fun on site’ quota for big shows and/or serious rooms is a specialty of ours. 

What are the positives and negatives of being a musician in 2026?

Positive: social media as a platform to reach new audiences 

Negative: social media as a platform to reach new audiences

What’s one thing you’d change about the ANZ music industry?

There’s always more space to be made for Indigenous, queer, and femme acts. 

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Are you hopeful for the future of music in ANZ? 

We have a good thing going over here in the southern hemisphere. We have the freedom of being so physically distanced from the rest of the western world we can really hone our own scenes. Don’t fence me in!

Name one other ANZ act you’d like to see make our Future of Music series in the future. 

Australia’s hottest new punk rock act… Public Figures!

What’s coming up for you this year?

We are currently on a US headline tour, primarily through the south. When we get home it’s four nights at the Opera House with Mitski, then UK, Europe, US festivals for the summer…. And some plans we can’t mention, but [we] are going to be busy working away on.