NORTHAMPTON — The winner of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest will make her way to Northampton on Friday for a show at the Parlor Room.
Fiddler and singer Gaelynn Lea wowed the nation — and the judges — with her performance of an original song, “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun,” the video of which went viral online.
She won the second-ever contest last March and hit the ground running with national tours, the latest of which brings her to Northampton.
“It’s been a way different year than I was ever anticipating,” she told the Gazette in an interview from the road. “It’s a year to try new things.”
She said she’s barely been home to Minnesota since September, when she and her husband sold their house, hopped in the van and brought her mesmerizing music around the country.
She’s also taken on a role as an advocate for others with disabilities — her own is called osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bones disease.
Her music has “a meditative, layered sound that allows the listener’s mind to drift.”
Lea performs as a soloist, but builds layers of sound with a looping pedal, giving her songs more layers.
“That’s basically the foundation of everything that I’m doing right now,” she said.
She performs at the Parlor Room Friday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $13 at the door.
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.