The nine lives of Cat Power

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- Sanjoy Narayan

Two months ago, the American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, better known as Cat Power, was touring Europe with her Cat Power Sings Dylan ‘66 tour, recreating Bob Dylan’s legendary Albert Hall concert, complete with the acoustic-to-electric arc that scandalised folk purists nearly 60 years ago.

For Marshall, it’s been a remarkable journey to this point. As musician and actor Carrie Brownstein recently wrote in The New Yorker, Richard Avedon's iconic 2003 photograph of her — cigarette in hand, holding a Bob Dylan T-shirt askew over a bare torso, jeans left half-unzipped — captured an artist seemingly indifferent to the grandiosity of being featured in this magazine.

That image, from a chaotic period in Marshall’s life, feels like a distant memory. Today, Cat Power is 53, more structured, more intentional, yet no less enigmatic as an artist. Let’s trace the evolution through a 10-song playlist.

Our journey begins with The Greatest (from The Greatest; 2006), her most beloved song and a powerful declaration of arrival. It marks her emergence from years of addiction and erratic performances. The song is anthemic without being triumphant, a quintessentially Cat Power paradox.