Blog Posts

The first word that comes to mind is “pressure” – I carry around an immense feeling of pressure. To get it right, to be good, to work hard, to relax – it makes seemingly unproductive weeks like this feel unbearable, gives me creepy-crawly skin if I think about it too long. But yesterday I had […]

What does it feel like to fly? I have often wondered this as I watch the seagulls swoop and soar above the waters of Lake Superior, our Unsalted Sea. I’m sure there are some flights that are all business — gathering food, tending to the young, warning others of danger — but these flights appear

Dear Senator Klobuchar, I am a disabled violinist and songwriter, and I can confidently say that the lack of accessible venues is the number one barrier I face when it comes to pursuing my career as a full-time touring artist. My choice of performance spaces is extremely limited because so few venues are accessible to

Dear Governor Walz, My name is Gaelynn Lea and I am a lifelong Minnesotan, musician, and Disability Rights advocate. I know that you care about Minnesotans from every walk of life, which is why I am urging you to enact a statewide mandatory mask policy as soon as possible. This issue is extremely important to

Dear Governor Walz and Lt. Governor Flanagan, We all know that masks are scientifically proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and that unfortunately it has become a topic of great debate and division. With a different approach initially from the Federal government, I believe our country could have adopted masks early on as a

Hello! I am so glad that Duluth News Tribune reporter Brady Slater decided to cover the discussion about making masks required indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope his article will motivate others to contact Mayor Emily Larson (heck, even Governor Tim Walz!) if they also want to see masks be worn indoors to protect

Hello again, Mayor Larson! Thank you for the thoughtful email response. Although I am obviously disappointed by your current position (opting to make mask-wearing optional during the COVID-19 pandemic), I am not surprised, as I know masks are not universally accepted. That is why I started my discussion with a more radical request of making

Hello Mayor Larson! I hope this email finds you well and healthy. This is the musician & Disability Rights advocate Gaelynn Lea, a lifelong Duluth resident. I’d like to schedule a meeting with you if possible to discuss the idea of making mask-wearing in public required in Duluth. I know you are already supportive of

I hope this blog post finds you safe and healthy… How have you been holding up? The COVID-19 quarantine is well underway in Minnesota… And although I have pretty much adjusted to the new schedule (Paul & I haven’t gone anywhere since March 13th so life is just kind of puttering along in Duluth), I

Hello Friends, and Happy Valentines Day! 🥰 I hope you are having a great day celebrating the many forms of LOVE!  One form of love is making sure everyone in society is welcome, included, and treated with respect and dignity. Today I want to thank disability activists Sandy Ho, Mia Mingus and Alice Wong for

This Friday, July 26th, marked the 29th anniversary of the signing of the ADA. The Americans with Disabilities Act is very special to me and I’m happy that advocates all across the country get together to celebrate its passage… It’s a “disability holiday” of sorts that I look forward to each year. Disability Rights has

This year the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival committee asked me to curate the annual Homegrown Mix Tape, which made me super excited for two reasons. First of all, I am really proud of my hometown of Duluth, Minnesota (a beautiful little city situated right at the tip of Lake Superior) and its wonderful music community… Any

This morning I shed more than a few tears after reading about the death of Frightened Rabbit’s singer Scott Hutchinson. To be honest, I haven’t listened to their music, although it sounds like it was extremely powerful and touched countless lives. But it’s not that part that got me. I cried because he was a

My name is Gaelynn Lea. I am a violinist turned songwriter from Duluth Minnesota. I have been performing for over a decade, but my music career took a national twist when I won NPR Music’s 2016 Tiny Desk Contest. After that I started getting a lot more offers to play out of state so I

Mind the Gap. What does that mean to me? In a way my whole life has been lived in the gap. I have a physical disability called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or Brittle Bones Disease. Due to numerous fractures in utero, I have bent arms and legs, which cause me to have a shortened stature. I have

Paul and I have been on the road touring full-time for the past 6 months now – I have performed and/or spoken at 125 events since October and we’ve traveled to over half the US states so far… 34 is the current total, to be exact! I feel so grateful for all the beautiful landscapes we

I must admit, today’s Inauguration is leaving me in a weird head space. But I don’t think engaging in an online political debate or reading another news article is going to do my mental health or the state of the world any good at this point. So I’m left pondering – what should I be

On May 6th, 2013 I very nervously taught my first fiddle lesson to my friend Robin. And now, after over 3 years and 50 students, I am taking a hiatus of undetermined length to embark on a new touring adventure with my husband Paul. I am sure I’ll be back to teaching someday (because I

So I’ve been thinking… The last four months have been amazing and exciting and humbling and terrifying… But mostly they’ve felt like a mysterious unfolding. Music seems to be the calling that I never planned on but have been so grateful to discover, bit by bit, in this lifetime. NPR Music’s ‪Tiny Desk Contest and the adventures

Way back in January, two fiddle students and a close friend told me about this music contest that National Public Radio was hosting called the Tiny Desk Contest. Many of you are probably aware that NPR’S Bob Boilen regularly hosts a three-song podcast called the Tiny Desk Concerts, and I had listened to my fair

I love playing shows at traditional venues, but I hope that I always make time to play for people in places like schools and nursing homes… I can’t quite put my finger on what makes these experiences so special, but they are indeed. For almost three years now, I have played at the same assisted

The last few months I have had the opportunity to do a number of fun and rewarding public speaking engagements for conferences, nonprofits, business groups, and schools. Topics are varied, but I generally include a little information about disability etiquette.   Disability etiquette is part of a large and nuanced conversation that is too big

  February is a fitting month to reflect on the nature of love. Winter allows us the opportunity (should we take it) to get cozy and hopefully slow down enough to truly appreciate that which we cherish in a close-up, contemplative way. We needn’t limit our ideas about love to romance. After all, love has

One of my favorite things has finally arrived: a New Year! A Clean Slate! A Fresh Start! Pondering and goal setting can happen every day you are alive, but it’s fun to have a socially-accepted excuse to nerd out on visioning exercises and create goals for the upcoming year. Although I do have a few

Obviously at the beginning of a New Year, there are lots of dreamers and creative types writing about The Meaning of It All. I am no exception, as I find myself asking what I want to accomplish in 2016 regarding music. I am relatively new to this field as profession, but I get the sense

Seeing as how the busy-ness and abundant foodstuffs of the Holidays are only a few weeks away (well, 6, but lately time has been FLYING), my good friend and I decided to embark on a 10 day cleanse & reflection period together to nourish our bodies, gather our wits, and weed out some bad habits. Anyone who wants

So as time always seems to do, it marched on boldly and now here we are planted squarely in the month of November… How October flew away so quickly I will never know! But, as you may have guessed, the seed that was my album concept which I started nurturing almost a year ago has finally come to

I have resided in Duluth my entire life, except for three years when I lived in St. Paul to attend Macalester College. Even though I love to travel, I will always call Duluth home. In my adult years I have become enthralled with Lake Superior. Now that I teach my fiddle lessons in Canal Park,

Hello! Thought it was about time to give you all an update on my album project… So much has been going on with teaching and public speaking and planning shows and life in general that I lost track of time and realized that the last update I gave was back in late August! Well, here

I’ll be the first to admit, I am a personal growth junkie. Some people collect postage stamps or vintage cars or tea cups — I collect self-help books! For me, the point of life has always been centered around growth, progress, and becoming. I am not talking strictly about professional development (although that’s probably why I love

Hello again! I wanted to post another quick update on the album project! Jake Larson (the recording engineer I worked with on Tuesday at Sacred Heart) is sure a speedy guy! I already have the rough cuts back, and they turned out really well… I am so excited about releasing this album! We still have to trim

This afternoon was my first day in the studio, and I tried to make the most of the 5 hours I was there… All in all, I recorded 11 tracks with Jake Larson today at Sacred Heart Music Center! He was so easy to work with and he knew a ton. I was pretty nervous

This month marks the beginning of my first-ever solo recording project… I am really excited, to say the least! This album will be different than any other album I have participated in so far because 1) it’s going to be a bunch of traditional fiddle tunes and beloved standards that I’ve been playing forever, and

Today I am wearing my favorite necklace. It was made by an artist with a disability named Anjuli… I get compliments on it ALL. THE. TIME. (Pssst… You can check out her artwork and jewelry here: Expressions by Anjuli) Every time I wear it, I am reminded of all the entrepreneurs with disabilities out there.

Hello again! It has been quite awhile since I posted anything on this blog… Life just got so busy and time slipped away from me. Indeed, a lot has happened in the last two years! I started teaching fiddle lessons, I played more shows than I ever have in my entire life, I had a hysterectomy, I

My name is Gaelynn Lea. I am a musician and I am proud to call Duluth home. Two of my bands, Snöbarn and The Murder of Crows, recorded tracks for the Arrowhead Story – an album created to raise awareness about the risks of Sulfide Mining. I am against the proposed PolyMet mine for many

Hello there! It’s been quite awhile since I last posted (March, I believe) and there have been a couple big changes in my life: Paul (my boyfriend of over six years) proposed to me by Lake Superior exactly a week ago, on May 25th! Even though deep down I knew we were going to be together

“The truth is not that it is going to be alright, the truth is, it already is.” (Frederic Evans) So this has been a crazy couple of months. Ari (my bandmate in Snöbarn) moved in with me and my boyfriend in November 2012. Then I got a new job in December, which turned out to be a