Blonde on the Tracks is the debut studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Emma Swift and was released August 14, 2020 by Tiny Ghost Records. The album consists of Bob Dylan covers and recorded between 2017 and 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee, the album was produced by Wilco's Pat Sansone and featured a number of well-known Nashville musicians as Swift's backing band, including British guitarist Robyn Hitchcock, Swift's partner. Swift said "The idea for the album came about during a long depressive phase, the kind where it's hard to get out of bed and get dressed and present to the world as a high-functioning human. I was lost on all fronts no doubt, but especially creatively. I've never been a prolific writer, but this period was especially wordless. Sad, listless and desperate, I began singing Bob Dylan songs as a way to have something to wake up for. Interpreting other people's emotions is how I learned to sing and I've always enjoyed hearing Dylan's songs from a female perspective. You can learn a lot about melody and feeling by the way a singer chooses to interpret someone else's song." Five singles were released from the album across 2020, all with animated video clips. Production The album developed out of a long depressive period for Swift, when writing songs of her own had become increasingly difficult. Swift found listening to Dylan, and eventually singing her own version of his songs, to be "a way to have something to wake up for", she told an interviewer for the Irish Times. Beyond the quality of Dylan's songwriting, Swift said in an interview with Nashville Scene that she was drawn to Dylan's "supremely confident" attitude as an artist during a time when she was acutely depressed. Swift finished six of the eight songs in 2017, working with producer Pat Sansone at Nashville's Magnetic Sound Studio, but put the project aside without releasing the songs. She was reinspired to complete the album in 2020 due to the worldwide COVID-19 quarantine as well as Dylan's own 2020 album, Rough and Rowdy Ways. Recording in home studios, Swift and her band completed two more covers, including a version of "I Contain Multitudes" from Rough and Rowdy Ways. Critical reception The album received largely positive reviews from critics. Mark Moody of Under the Radar called the album "truly a master class in interpretation." Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter praised "Swift’s