Meg Duffy is an American musician and guitarist who has played as a studio musician on records by the War on Drugs, Weyes Blood, Perfume Genius, Sasami, and William Tyler, among many others. Duffy was a longtime member of Kevin Morby's live band, is a current member of Perfume Genius's band, and is the sole member of indie-rock band Hand Habits.

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Background

Duffy is originally from Amsterdam, New York, and first started playing guitar at 17, although they had played drums since 5th grade. After graduating from high school, Duffy attended Schenectady County Community College for guitar performance as the only female student in the program. After graduating from college they briefly relocated to Albany, New York, prior to joining Morby's band in Los Angeles, California. Duffy previously dated Angel Olsen, and as of 2023, they have been in a relationship with a psychiatrist. Duffy uses non-binary gender-neutral pronouns.\n

Session work

Duffy is credited on a number of albums as a session musician. They played a slide guitar solo on \"Holding On\" off The War on Drugs' Grammy-winning album A Deeper Understanding, and in 2019 they played on William Tyler's instrumental album Goes West. Duffy contributed guitar, slide guitar, and bass on the albums Fading Lines (2016) and European Heartbreak (2018) by Dutch artist Amber Arcades. Duffy played slide guitar on \"Seven Words\", a 2016 track from the album Front Row Seat to Earth by Weyes Blood. Duffy appeared on Mega Bog's albums Happy Together (2017) and Dolphine (2019). Duffy was a regular member of indie rock musician Kevin Morby's live band from 2015 to 2018, and played guitar, piano, and bass on his 2017 album City Music.\n

Duffy collaborated with music Jenn Wasner on Wasner's second album as Flock of Dimes, Head of Roses. They are also heavily featured in Sylvan Esso's expanded live band from their WITH tour, of which a full-length concert film and double LP WITH was released. Duffy also performed on the follow-up EP, WITH LOVE.\n

Their other latest credits include playing guitar on SASAMI's album Squeeze, Christian Lee Hutson's Quitters, Weyes Blood's And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, Mega Bog's Life, and Another, Hurray for the Riff Raff's The Past Is Still Alive, and Perfume Genius's Glory.\n

Hand Habits

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Duffy is the founder, primary songwriter, and only permanent member of the Los Angeles-based band Hand Habits. Their first release as Hand Habits was a 2012 split record titled Small Shifts (included as part of the pinky demos). On September 25, 2015, Hand Habits released double EPs titled This Sounds Like Nothing Tonight and This Sounds Like Nothing Before.\n

Wildly Idle (2017)

Their first full-length record Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) was released by Woodsist Records in 2017.\n

Wildly Idle was self-produced by Duffy and recorded partially in Saugerties, New York and partially at their home in Highland Park. Kevin Morby said about the album: \"Wildly Idle feels incredibly intimate, like a secret between her and the listener. It hits soft, like warm water, and before you know it it is all around you – a bath, and Meg's whisper has made its way inside you\". In reviewing the album for Pitchfork, Quinn Moreland wrote: \"Duffy sings of romances come and gone without ever sounding jaded or spiteful; future love promises a mystery, a sensuality that's open like the road\".\n

placeholder (2019)

On March 1, 2019, Hand Habits released their second studio album, placeholder, produced by Brad Cook in Justin Vernon's Wisconsin studio. Duffy stated that the songs on placeholder \"are about accountability and forgiveness .... These are all real stories. I don't fictionalize much\".\n

2020 to 2021

In 2020, Hand Habits released singles \"Pictures of Flowers\", a collaboration with Jess Williamson, and \"Comfortable\", a collaboration with Ryan Hemsworth. They released their EP dirt in February 2021, and in June of that same year, they released the singles \"motherless\" and \"no reply\", produced by Luke Temple and Jeremy Harris. In 2020, Duffy contributed to the benefit compilation The Song is Coming From Inside the House, organized by Strange Ranger to benefit Groundswell's Rapid Response Fund in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.\n

yes/and (2021)

Duffy's collaborative project with producer Joel Ford, yes/and, debuted with a self-titled album in July 2021.\n

Fun House (2021)

In August 2021, Hand Habits announced their upcoming album Fun House, and released the first single \"Aquamarine\". The album, which was produced by Sasami and engineered by Kyle Thomas, was released on October 22, 2021. In their positive review of the album, Pitchfork noted: \"[Fun House] embodies all Duffy's gifts at once, bringing their virtuosic talent into their own wheelhouse, on their own terms.\" The FADER dubbed the album a \"breakthrough,\" with Shaad D'Souza writing that the album is \"lush, bright, in constant forward motion, in a constant state of change... Duffy's third and best record, it possesses some grimy, earthen magic.\"\n

2022

On September 14, 2022, Hand Habits released two new songs \"Greatest Weapon,\" a song about \"coming to grips with the dance of time,\" and \"Under The Water\" via Sylvan Esso's Psychic Hotline label. The latter track is a collaboration between Duffy and Sylvan Esso's Amelia Meath.\n

Sugar the Bruise (2023)

In March 2023, Hand Habits announced a six-track album Sugar the Bruise, which was released by Fat Possum on June 16. The record was co-produced by Duffy and Luke Temple, with additional production from Philip Weinrobe and Jeremy Harris, and was recorded at Panoramic House Studios in Stinson Beach, CA. Of the album, Paste Magazine writes, \"these chapters are personal, droll, flushed and cresting; wondrously experimental and deftly consummate; a skyline of everydayness... Duffy paves a new slate, growing slowly into subversive song constructions and articulating how a body might begin tumbling through familiar habitats with a romantic, curious and joyous eye.\"\n

Doubles (2023)

In September 2023, Duffy x Uhlmann, an instrumental experimental guitar duo composed of Duffy and Gregory Uhlmann, released their first record, Doubles.\n

2025

In January 2025, Duffy and Olivia Kaplan released a cover of \"Birds\" by Neil Young. They donated the proceeds from Bandcamp to organizations assisting with the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. In April 2025, Hand Habits featured on the Matt Berninger single \"Breaking Into Acting\" from his album Get Sunk.\n

Blue Reminder (2025)

Hand Habits released their sixth studio album, Blue Reminder, on August 22, 2025, via Fat Possum in LP, CD and digital formats. Pitchfork described the album as \"conditioned by the awestruck pleasure of falling in love, and showcasing Meg Duffy's effortlessly acrobatic guitar playing, their latest LP is [...] their most sure-footed, adventurous collection of songs to date.\"\n

Equipment

In a 2017 interview, Duffy stated they play a Fender Lone Star Stratocaster with a rosewood fretboard. The guitar, they stated, is set up with Seymour Duncan pickups in a HSS configuration (a single coil at the neck position, a single coil in the middle position and a humbucker at the bridge position.), also known as a \"fat strat.\"\n

Discography (as Hand Habits)

LP

Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void) (2017)
placeholder (2019)
yes/and (2021) (collaboration with Joel Ford)
Fun House (2021)
Fun House + Blueprints (2022)
Blue Reminder (2025)

EP

pinky demos (2012)
Small Shifts (2014)
This Sounds Nothing Like Tonight (2015)
This Sounds Nothing Like Before (2015)
Dirt (2021)
Sugar the Bruise (2023)

Singles

\"Yr Heart\" (2017)
\"Pictures of Flowers\" (2020) (collaboration with Jess Williamson)
\"Comfortable\"(2020) (collaboration with Ryan Hemsworth)
\"4th of July\" (2021)
\"motherless\" (2021)
\"no reply\" (2021)
\"Aquamarine\" (2021)
\"No Difference\" (2021)
\"Graves\" (2021)
\"Clean Air\" (2021)
\"Greatest Weapon\" (2022)
\"Under The Water\" (2022) (collaboration with Amelia Meath)
\"Something Wrong\" (2023)
\"Private Life\" (2023)
\"The Bust of Nefertiti\" (2023)
\"Wheel of Change\" (2025)
\"Dead Rat\" (2025)
\"Jasmine Blossoms\" (2025)
\"Bluebird of Happiness\" (2025)

Live albums

Audiotree Live (2017)

Additional credits and collaborations

Full list of additional credits/collaborations showing year, album, artist, and credit\n

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References

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Hand Habits

Broadcast History