Gaelynn Lea joins us on our witchy little podcast this week, and traces the links between her personal spirituality as a witchy Quaker and her route to life as a composer, songwriter, and professional musician. Gaelynn describes asking herself: "what am I doing now and how does that create the next scene? And does the next scene get me any closer to the good, kind world that I wanna see?"
Gaelynn Lea got her big break when she won NPR Music's Tiny Desk Contest in 2016. Since then, she has been captivating audiences around the world with her haunting original songs and traditional fiddle tunes, and has collaborated with Michael Stipe, The Decemberists, and even Pigface.
In 2022, Gaelynn Lea composed and recorded the original score for Macbeth on Broadway, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga. Thanks to a Whippoorwill Arts Fellowship, her theatrically-inspired soundtrack came out in May 2025. She followed this up with a 10-city UK album release tour.
Photo credit: Visit Duluth