Martha Kristin Hersh (born August 7, 1966) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter known for her solo work and with her rock bands Throwing Muses and 50FootWave.

Hersh attended Salve Regina University in Newport, majoring in archetypal psychology and philosophy, but dropped out shortly before graduating to establish the band in Boston where they had been playing on weekends.

The 4AD Throwing Muses biography describes its sound at the time as "joining the dots between elliptical post-punk, harmonious folk jangle and rockabilly thunder without ever settling into standard genre patterns.

In 1994, Hersh began a solo career on Sire/Reprise and 4AD as an acoustic performer, beginning with Hips and Makers, an album sparsely arranged around her vocals, guitar, and a cellist, in contrast to the volatile, electric sound of her band work.

That enabled her to co-release some of her projects, including an ongoing download-subscription service called Works in Progress (WIP) for releases available through the label's website.

She described the album as having even more intensity than her previous works, as she continued her pursuit of songwriting as being in part a way to transform "ugly feelings" into art.

She also collaborated further with like-minded alternative artists like Vic Chesnutt, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Grant-Lee Phillips, and John Doe.

In 2003, she released The Grotto, an acoustic solo album of song sketches with personal lyrics set in Providence, Rhode Island, with Andrew Bird on violin and Howe Gelb on piano.

When Narcizo was unable to tour on a full-time basis due to other commitments, Hersh formed her power rock trio 50FootWave.

"[12] Concurrently she launched CASH Music, a subscription-based, direct-to-consumer website, that was formed along with fellow musician Donita Sparks.

[13] Fans can become "Strange Angels"[14] and subscribe to her output to receive albums and print releases, downloadable content, and guest spots for live shows–packages ranging from $30 per quarter to $5,000 (executive producer credit on her next album)[14] 50FootWave's EP Power+Light was released on CASH in 2009[15] and Hersh was involved in several projects—a second collection of Appalachian folksongs, The Shady Circle and a series of new free tracks.

Candid about her episodes of mental illness and despair, her songs cover a vast spectrum of topics, including childbirth ("Hysterical Bending"), love ("Tar Kissers", "Lavender"), surreal vignettes ("Delicate Cutters", "Fish"), death ("Limbo"), emotional anguish ("The Letter"), loss of custody of her first son ("Candyland"), and the shedding of a relationship's anxiety ("Snake Oil").

Simon Reynolds in The New York Times pointed to Hersh's "mesmerizing" explorations of "rage, aggression and mental chaos" as evidence of female rock artists of the early 1990s pushing against gender role boundaries to express "more than simply vulnerability or defiance" in their work.

[25] Ann Powers, also in the Times, wrote of Hersh's musical style: "Her plastic, sometimes obsessively circular song structures emphasize staggered rhythms and extreme dynamic shifts, and her voice, a carnal cry that pushes through her body gathering up air, lends her often oblique lyrics an oracular veneer.

"[26] Hersh has said her parents' album collections featuring Patti Smith, the Carter Family, Stevie Wonder, Robert Johnson, Talking Heads, The Clash, Steve Miller, The Beatles, Philip Glass, and traditional music influenced her when she was growing up.

The app allows children to hear her read the story out loud and features her recordings of lullabies that she learned as a girl in Tennessee.

[27] Her 2010 memoir Rat Girl (published in the UK as Paradoxical Undressing) is based on a diary she wrote when she was 18, touring with Throwing Muses, diagnosed with bipolar disorder and pregnant with her first child.