A Trip Home with Thao Nguyen

At just 24, Thao Nguyen put out one of 2008’s best indie rock records, We Brave Bee Stings and All. But she didn’t turn into a rock star overnight.
Thao grew up in Arlington, Virginia, where her mother owned a coin laundromat and dry cleaning business. Thao started working there at age 12 and continued through high school. “I think she paid me $20 a day,” says Thao. “Very cheap labor,” laughs her mother, Nanh.
But Thao used her shifts at the laundromat to teach herself to play guitar. “It’s hard to walk into an open mic night as a female with an acoustic guitar,” she remembers of her early performances. “You’re immediately dismissed. You’re a joke.” So she commanded respect from the crowd with songs built over unconventional chords and intricate finger-picking.
Nanh started the laundromat after Thao’s father left the family. She’d never run a business before, but worked seven days a week to make ends meet. “She’s seriously the most amazing woman,” Thao says of her mom, “the strongest and the most durable human being I’ve ever met.”
“Sometimes I think her ideas are older than her age,” says Nanh.
(Originally aired: May 29, 2009)
UPDATE: Since we first aired this story, Nanh has sold the laundromat and retired. Thao’s new album is We the Common.
Bonus Track: “We The Common (For Valerie Bolden)”