Bridget Kearney

Bridget Kearney

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2012 Spring Skunk Music Festival
Background information
Birth name Bridget Ellen Kearney
Born (1985-06-10) June 10, 1985
Iowa City, Iowa
Genres R&B, pop music, indie music, bluegrass
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, vocal music
Instruments Double bass, vocals, guitar, piano, gimbri
Years active 2005–present
Labels Signature Sounds Recordings
Associated acts Lake Street Dive, Joy Kills Sorrow, Cuddle Magic
Website bridgetkearney.com

Bridget Kearney (born June 10, 1985) is an American musician and composer. She graduated with a dual degree from Tufts University and New England Conservatory of Music. She is noted for her songwriting, double bass playing and working in many different genres of music. She is a member of Lake Street Dive. Kearney won the 2005 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the Jazz category.[1]

Kearney's debut solo album, Won't Let You Down, was released by Signature Sounds Recordings in 2017.[2]

Biography

Early life

Kearney was born in 1985, grew up in Iowa City, Iowa, and was one of five children. Her parents worked for the University of Iowa. She started her journey with music in the Lutheran Church's Cherub choir. Kearney took piano lessons at the age of 5. She turned most of her musical attention to the double bass in the 4th Grade. This is about the same time that she wrote her first song lyrics. In high school, she played in the school orchestras and jazz bands but also had her own rock and roll band.[3] Outside of school, she took college level instruction on the bass.[4]

Kearney's dual college majors were jazz (New England Conservatory) and English (Tufts). Upon arrival in Boston she quickly entered the Boston music scene. As a sophomore, she played 40 gigs with two bands she helped found: Joy Kills Sorrow and Lake Street Dive.[5]

Personal life

Kearney likes to run, promote charities, and find adventures on the road. There are videos of her bungee jumping in New Zealand, playing her bass as Pinky Gorrilla[6] and testing hot springs in Iceland.[7] The promotional video for her new album has a speeded up video of Kearney running while singing and playing a guitar. She runs in marathons,[8] often raising money for a cause.

Kearney does not like to talk about some of her other unique skills. While in college, Kearney was a regular vendor at Fenway Park. She holds the one game Red Sox record of selling 104 foam fingers.[9] She claims Tom Brady bought one from her. On August 18, 2012, the Deadly Gentlemen challenged Joy Kills Sorrow to an on-stage "fold down' of their Chadwick basses. Kearney took about 53 seconds to beat Sam Grisman (son of David Grisman), smiling the whole time.[10]

Influences

Kearney musical tastes are eclectic, due in part to a love of experimenting with sounds. Growing up, she listened to her parents' rock and roll music of the '60s and gained a fondness for bluegrass. Her early jazz influences were Paul Chambers, Charles Mingus and Charlie Haden. She and her Lake Street Dive bandmates admit to having an affection for The Beatles, which is evident in some of her song titles such as "Hello, Goodbye".

While at Tufts, she spent a spring semester in Morocco learning the gimbri, a three string instrument used in the Gnawa genre of Sufi trance music. In 2014 she and Benjamin Lazar Davis went to Ghana, where they studied drumming and the Gyil(xylophone) music of the Dagaaba people with Aaron Bebe.

Of songwriting, Kearney comments, "A lot of my ideals as a songwriter come from novelists and poets, like Hemingway's idea that to start writing a story, all you have to do is write one true sentence. A song works that way too. You just need to find one seed, the rest will grow from there."[11] She admits that "My songwriting process is extremely varied and unpredictable, usually embarrassingly autobiographical."[12] Some of her songs open with:

  • Lyric (Song – Album)
  • The first time you came around ("Hell Yeah" – Side Pony)
  • When we were having a good time ("Rental Love" – Bad Self Portraits)
  • It feels so good to be over you ("Hello Good Bye" – Side Pony)
  • Don't pull your love doctor routine on me ("Love Doctor" – "Won't Let You Down (Bridget Kearney album)" and unreleased with Lake Street Dive)
  • Oh we tried and tried and tried standing side by side by side ("Get up and Go" – Darkness Sure Becomes This City)
  • I can hear my neighbors making love upstairs ("Neighbor Song" – Lake Street Dive)
  • Another night wasted in my parents basement ("Rabid Animal" – Bad Self Portraits)
  • I know you know me as the girl who's always alone ("Saving All My Sinning" – Side Pony)
  • If you're married, wear a wedding band ("Wedding Band" – 7" vinyl release)
  • Train's gone broken, I'm outspoken, stuck out and drunk like a trout ("Kill My Sorrow" – Darkness Sure Becomes This City)
  • You are so generous with time and money, I almost wish I loved you instead of him ("Sometimes when I'm drunk and your're wearing my favorite shirt" – In This Episode) John Lennon Prize 2006.

Kearney has studied with Danilo Perez, John McNeil, Jerry Leake, Mark Urness, Diana Gannett and Abdelkadir Amlil.

Other bands and musicians

Here are a few of the other bands and artists that Kearny has worked with: The Sweetback Sisters, Xylopholks, Baby States, Land of Leland, Bird.Fly.Yellow, Metro Pilot, Sax Attack, Miss Tess and the Kickbacks, Heather Masse, Don Byron, Ben Monder, Tim O'Brien, Bruce Molsky, Darol Anger, Lea Delaria, Sandra Bernhard, Sarah Jarosz, Noam Pikelny, Wes Corbett, Jacob Jolliff, Adam Larrabee, Jesse Harper, Joe Walsh, Margaret Glaspy, Noah Preminger, Dan Tepfer, Jo Lawry, Jeremy Udden, Matt Arcara, Emma Beaton, Jon Singer, Carmen Staaf, Michael Winograd, Sean Hutchinson, and Coco Zhao.

Bands and collaborations

Bridget Ellen Kearney is a member of BMI. As a songwriter/composer she has registered over 85 songs.[13] Of those, about 25 are held solely by her,[13] and the rest with nine different songwriters/composers[14] for the artists Lake Street Dive, Cuddle Magic, Joy Kills Sorrow, and Margaret Glaspy.[13]

Lake Street Dive

Kearney is a member of Lake Street Dive, which started touring in 2007. She has appeared with Lake Street Dive on many national shows: The Colbert Report,[15] The Late Show with David Letterman,[16] Conan, The Ellen DeGeneres Show,[17] National Public Radio,[18] Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor and in the first show hosted by Chris Thile. The band has uploaded numerous videos, including their annual, humorous Halloween covers,[19] and T Bone Burnett asked them to perform on the Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of "Inside Llewyn Davis". The band has traveled and performed in almost every state and over a dozen foreign countries. Originally with Signature Sounds Recordings, in 2016 the band signed with Nonesuch Records.

Joy Kills Sorrow

Kearney was also a major songwriter and stand up bass player for Joy Kills Sorrow from 2005 to 2012. Joy Kills Sorrow was a Boston-based indie pop, American roots string band formed in 2005. This band released three albums before Kearney left the band to join Lake Street Dive full-time.[20]

Cuddle Magic

A pop-rock-folk band that varies in membership, Kearney wrote songs and played with Cuddle Magic before joining Lake Street Dive full-time. Kearney's friend, Benjamin Davis, has been a long-standing member of this band.

Benjamin Lazar Davis

Kearney and Benjamin Lazar Davis have played music together since their days at New England Conservatory. They performed as the duo Bbgun. They created their Bawa EP album after their time in Ghana. Their two guitars and voices translated traditional drum and gyil melodies into three indie songs. "The whole experience of making this record was so positive and affirming of our belief in music and humanity. We went out into the world as empty-handed strangers and came back in three weeks with a wealth of new ideas and friendships that will last a lifetime. Why? Music. It's powerful stuff," says Kearney about their time in Ghana.[21] Kearney and Davis also toured a limited number of engagements together.

The Fundies

The Fundies was another part-time band collaboration featuring Margaret Glaspy, Rachael Price, Kearney and Brittany Haas. Their first performance was in 2010. They released an EP in 2012. Glaspy and Haas played a Fundies reunion gig in 2015.

Discography

Solo albums

With Lake Street Dive

With Benjamin Lazar Davis

  • BAWA (2015)

With Joy Kills Sorrow

  • Darkness Sure Becomes This City (2010)
  • This Unknown Science (2011)

With The Fundies

  • The Fundies EP (2012)

References

  1. ↑ 2005 Lennon Award Winners
  2. ↑ "Bridget Kearney". Signature Sounds Recordings. January 24, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  3. ↑ Spencer,Sloane (May 19, 2012). "#1221 Lake Street Dive". website (Podcast). Publisher. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  4. ↑ http://www.perfectnotes.blogspot.com Bradley Carter September 30, 2013
  5. ↑ Spencer,Sloane (May 19, 2012). "#1221 Lake Street Dive". website (Podcast). Publisher. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  6. ↑ Xylopholks (February 26, 2009). Xylopholks (Youtube). Union Square, New York City: Osradis. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  7. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/pg/lakestreetdive/photos/ Lake Street Dive's Facebook
  8. ↑ Bridget ran the Philadelphia Marathon
  9. ↑ Lake Street Dive's star on Rise, Sand Diego, by George Varga August 19, 2014
  10. ↑ Deadly Gentlemen Encore feat
  11. ↑ "This Unknown Science". Joy Kills Sorrow. 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2017. Kearney comments, "A lot of my ideals as a songwriter....
  12. ↑ "Breaking into The Business". April 19, 2006. My songwriting process is extremely varied and unpredictable....
  13. 1 2 3 Broadcast Music, Inc (February 10, 2017). "KEARNEY BRIDGET ELLEN". BMI Repertoire. BMI. Retrieved February 10, 2017. There are 86 Work Titles, # 506287553
  14. ↑ The BMI database shows joint registration with Olson(49), Price(48), Calabrese(46), Davis(4), Corbett(3), Beaton(1), Joliff(1), Glaspy(1), Jefferson(1)
  15. ↑ Colbert Report 5 February 2014
  16. ↑ David Letterman 21 February 2014
  17. ↑ Ellen DeGeneres Show 18 March 2014
  18. ↑ NPR music Lake Street Dive
  19. ↑ "Love Shack cover – Lake Street Dive". Lake Street Dive. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  20. ↑ Lawless, John (September 4, 2012). "Bridget Kearney exits Joy Kills Sorrow". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Bawa by Bridget Kearney & Benjamin Lazar Davis". House of Love Concerts!. September 2, 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
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