BIOGRAPHY
Tristen (born Tristen Gaspadarek, November 23, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter who moved to Nashville after graduating from DePaul University in 2007, where she studied relational group and organizational theories of communication. She began her recording career with a homemade EP, burning the CDs herself and packaging them in hand-sewn felt sleeves to sell at her shows. Her catalog spans six albums: Teardrops and Lollipops (2008), Charlatans at the Garden Gate (2011), C A V E S (2013), Sneaker Waves (2017), Aquatic Flowers (2021), and Unpopular Music (2025). She has toured with Those Darlins, The Elected, Justin Townes Earle, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons, and Vanessa Carlton, and performed in Jenny Lewis's live band in 2015. In 2016 she published a chapbook of poetry, Saturnine.