Tiny Desk Contest Winner Gaelynn Lea Playing Concert In Elkin

Violinist, singer, and songwriter Gaelynn Lea was first thrust upon the national stage in 2016, after winning NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. Since then, the Duluth, Minnesota, native has toured internationally and played hundreds of shows.

But she isn't only a performer. She's also an activist. Lea was born with a disability that's commonly referred to as Brittle Bone Disease. And as she takes her music to the people, she also brings her message of accessibility and inclusivity.

She spoke with WFDD's Eddie Garcia. They began by talking about bridging traditional music and modern sensibilities on her new album Learning How To Stay.

Gaelynn Lea will be playing in North Carolina on Saturday, November 3, at The Reeves Theatre in Elkin as part of The Martha Bassett Show.

Interview Highlights

On life after winning the Tiny Desk Contest:

Well, it was a really cool and overwhelming but positive time. It was my first exposure in the national media, and so a lot of people emailed and sent messages and it took me a long time to sift through everything. It kind of became clear that if we wanted to try touring, if my husband and I wanted to try it, that we could probably make a go of it. So after that video was filmed and after we had done a few of the shows with NPR - 'cause that was the prize - after that we decided to make a plan to tour. So I got a booking agent and we ended up selling our house. We got a van and hit the road. I mean obviously touring comes with challenges, and if you have to think about accessibility it's a little bit harder even. Accessibility means that you have to make sure the venues are right, and make sure that the places you're sleeping at night are accessible. But overall I really do like it.

On Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bone Disease):

It basically means that my bones break easier than other people's. And so before I was born a lot of them broke - like 40 or 50 of them broke in utero. So my arms and legs are bent and healed that way. They kind of healed before I was born, in this different position. And so I use a wheelchair, like I've used an electric wheelchair since I was 2-and-a-half. So I've had it a long time. And I play violin differently too, I play it up and down like a cello. I had a teacher that helped me adapt the way I played early on, in fifth grade or whatever. And I've been doing it like that ever since.

On her disability activism:

I had actually already started doing speaking engagements in my hometown before I won the Tiny Desk so it felt like a pretty natural progression. And the message that I give is that disability isn't a negative thing. We have to reframe it, as rather a form of just physical diversity. If you take the negativity out of it in your language, just the way we talk about it, then you start to realize that we have equal value. And having equal value means that we also have equal rights, right?