The Roches, a New York-based trio of female folksingers (sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche), made a career our of simple tunes enhanced with old-fashioned vocal harmonies. Paul Simon helped Maggie and Terre record Seductive Reasoning (Columbia, 1975). Despite Down The Dream and Underneath the Moon, the duo was again relegated to the cafe` of the Greenwich Village. Suzzy joined her two elder sisters for Roches (Warner, 1979), the album (almost entirely composed by Maggie) that another luminary, Robert Fripp, helped them make. This time their virtuoso vocalizing, that harks back to the tradition of barbershop quartets and doo-wop (We, Hammond Song, The Train, Mr Sellack, Married Men), establish them as a sensation of the new wave, although they were almost the antithesis of the new wave. The amateurish attitude was most of the charm.

A drummer and a bassist turned Nurds (1980) into a more professional affair, but the album simply lacked good songs. The Roches continued recording every 3/4 years. Keep on Doing (1982), whose highlights are covers, and Another World (1985) are relatively rocking albums. Speak (MCA, 1989) is perhaps their most turneful collection. The Dove (MCA, 1992) is a mature, adult work that includes The Ing Song, Too Tough Hide and Maid Of The Seas and signals Terre's maturity.

Holy Smokes (1997) was Terre Roche's first solo album.

The Collected Works of the Roches (2003) is a compilation.

The Roches reunited in for Moonswept (2007).

Maggie Roche died in 2017 at the age of 65.