Spotlight On: KELSEY LU

ABOUT THIS WEEK’S SHERO IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

Cellist, singer, songwriter, and producer Kelsey Lu was born into an artistic and strictly religious Jehovah’s Witness family in North Carolina. In their late teens they left home to pursue music at University of North Carolina School for the Arts, but soon dropped out in favor of playing with local bands. Their path would soon lead them to New York City and Los Angeles, and high profile collaborations with such luminaries as Kelela, Blood Orange, Jamie xx, and Solange, all the while coming into their own as a solo artist - using looping pedals and their cello as their backing instrument. Their critically hailed debut EP Church came out in 2016, followed by their full length, and major label debut Blood in 2019. Since then, they put out an album of remixes called Blood Transfusion, a series of singles, including a 2020 collaboration with Yves Tumor, and a series of immersive meditative soundscapes and visuals called Hydroharmonia. Word has it that a new album may be still in the offing this year. In other words, Lu is a prolifically creative, genre-bending force to keep your eyes and ears on. 

Our playlist features new music from Colombian duo Bomba Estéreo, and the first taste of a new Dawn Richard album coming this year. This week has SO many SHERO birthdays, and we celebrate four - Buffy Sainte-Marie turns 80 on Saturday, 2/20, Sunday 2/21 is both Nina Simone and Rhiannon Giddens birthdays, and Erykah Badu is 50 on Friday 2/26.

And, closing our show as always with a Radio SHERO of the week, Dori Zori from affiliate station Radio Milwaukee joins us to share her guest DJ pick “Dreaming” by Blondie.