Gaelynn Lea

she/her

Duluth, MN

Gaelynn, a small white woman seated in an electric wheelchair, holds her violin and smiles. She has medium-length brown hair held back with a red flower clip and wears a white silky dress with large black beads sewn along the neck.

Since winning NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016, Gaelynn Lea has captivated audiences around the world with her haunting original songs and traditional fiddle tunes. Over the years, she has collaborated and performed with many notable artists such as Michael Stipe (REM), The Decemberists, Wilco, LOW, and the industrial rock supergroup Pigface.

In 2022, Gaelynn Lea composed and recorded the original score for Macbeth on Broadway, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga. Thanks to a recent Whippoorwill Arts Fellowship, her theatrically-inspired soundtrack is set to be released in Spring 2025. A tour for this new album, Music from Macbeth, will take place in the UK soon afterwards.

Music aside, Gaelynn Lea is a sought-after public speaker about accessibility in the arts. She has been featured on PBS NewsHour, On Being with Krista Tippett, The Moth Radio Hour, The Science of Happiness Podcast, and via two widely-viewed TEDx Talks.

One of Gaelynn Lea’s biggest passions is promoting Disability Culture. To that end, she helped to co-found RAMPD.org [Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities] with NYC-based recording artist Lachi in early 2022. The mission of this fast-growing global network of disabled music professionals is to amplify Disability Culture, promote equitable inclusion & advocate for accessibility in the music industry. Gaelynn is also a member of the Recording Academy, and she currently enjoys serving on the DEI Committee.

Most recently, Gaelynn Lea co-wrote, acted, and sang in a new musical fable for the stage with disabled storyteller Kevin Kling. Their show, Invisible Fences, premiered at Open Eye Theater in July 2023. This fantastical, music-filled production touches on disability, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves. Invisible Fences is set to be revived in November 2024 at Zeitgeist Arts Theater in Duluth, MN. Currently, Gaelynn Lea is writing a book about her touring adventures & disability advocacy that has been acquired by Algonquin Books and will be published late next year. Linger in the Sun is a love-letter to every body; a warm, funny and deeply-felt memoir about disability, music, and the messy creativity of an artist’s life.