Jasmine Cruickshank, who performs as Jasmine.4.t, walked away from a songwriting workshop — led by none other than Adrianne Lenker — with a key piece of wisdom: Creative endeavors must start from a place of acceptance.

That’s something the British singer-songwriter had been struggling with just before she came out as trans and began her gender-affirming transition.

“As soon as I came out, all of these songs that are on the record … started pouring out of me,” she says.

That record, called You Are The Morning, explores the joys of being a trans woman, like falling in love with another trans person for the first time. But Cruickshank isn’t afraid to confront the darkness, either — she sings and speaks candidly about the violence and isolation that trans people face in today’s world.

“Something that’s broken my heart is older trans women messaging me saying ‘I wish I’d had someone like you to look up to when I was transitioning’,” she says.

In this session, Jasmine.4.t joins us to talk about the road to You Are The Morning, including how her friendship with Lucy Dacus led to a record deal and the opportunity to work with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers of boygenius.

Plus, Jasmine.4.t performs live in the studio.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.

Low Cut Connie: “Whips and Chains” (Recorded Live for World Cafe)