Bridget Kearney

Bridget Kearney (born June 10, 1985) is an American musician and songwriter. She is a founding member of the band Lake Street Dive and winner of the 2005 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the Jazz category.[1]

Bridget Kearney
2012 Spring Skunk Music Festival
Background information
Birth nameBridget Ellen Kearney
Born (1985-06-10) June 10, 1985
Iowa City, Iowa
GenresR&B, pop music, indie music, bluegrass
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, vocal music
InstrumentsDouble bass, vocals, guitar, piano, gimbri
Years active2005–present
LabelsSignature Sounds Recordings
Associated actsLake Street Dive, Joy Kills Sorrow, Cuddle Magic
Websitebridgetkearney.com

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

Biography

Early life and education

Kearney was born in 1985 and grew up in Iowa City, Iowa. Her mother played flute. She started her journey with music in the Lutheran Church's Cherub choir. Kearney took piano lessons at the age of 5 and began playing the double bass in the 4th Grade. In high school, she played in the school orchestras and jazz bands and had her own rock and roll band.[3]

Although already an accomplished and devoted double bass player at a young age, Kearney's knowledge, skills and innate capacity for creativity took her to a much higher musical level while studying with Mark Urness, a versatile bassist, composer, and educator in Iowa City at the time who now teaches at Lawrence College in Wisconsin. (ref Groove, No Treble – Episode #44: Bridget Kearney, formatting needed]

In college Kearney double majored, studying jazz bass at the New England Conservatory of Music and English at Tufts University.[4] As a sophomore, she played with two bands she helped found: Joy Kills Sorrow and Lake Street Dive.[3]

Collaborations

Kearney is a member of Broadcast Music, Inc.. As a songwriter/composer she has registered over 85 songs.[5] Of those, about 25 are held solely by her,[5] and the rest with nine different songwriters/composers[6] for the artists Lake Street Dive, Cuddle Magic, Joy Kills Sorrow, and Margaret Glaspy.[5]

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,[7] The Late Show with David Letterman,[8] Conan, The Ellen DeGeneres Show,[9] National Public Radio,[10] 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,[11] 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.

Bridget Kearney and Benjamin Lazar Davis

In 2015 Kearney teamed up with fellow New England Conservatory of Music alumnus Benjamin Lazar Davis to create original works which are in part a fusion of music from the west African country of Ghana and Kearney and Davis' music. Various artists and instruments as well as musical cultural elements from Ghana were used by the artists from Ghana, Kearney and Davis in the making of these recordings. The results of these efforts are contained in two recorded music releases: "Bawa" in 2015 and "Still Flying" in 2020.

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.[12]

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.

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, and 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)
  • Still Flying (2020)

With Joy Kills Sorrow
  • Darkness Sure Becomes This City (2010)
  • This Unknown Science (2011)

With The Fundies
  • The Fundies EP (2012)

References
  1. "John Lennon Songwriting Contest". Jlsc.com. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  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. This Unknown Science at the Wayback Machine (archived March 12, 2015)
  5. Broadcast Music, Inc (February 10, 2017). "KEARNEY BRIDGET ELLEN". BMI Repertoire. BMI. Retrieved February 10, 2017. There are 86 Work Titles, # 506287553
  6. 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)
  7. "The Colbert Report". Cc.com. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  8. "- YouTube". Youtube.com. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  9. "Ellen DeGeneres Show 18 March 2014". Archived from the original on April 21, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  10. "Lake Street Dive". Npr.org. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  11. "Love Shack cover – Lake Street Dive". Lake Street Dive. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  12. Lawless, John (September 4, 2012). "Bridget Kearney exits Joy Kills Sorrow". Bluegrass Today. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
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