Subtitles section Play video
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(cheery folk music)
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- [Gaelynn] My music and my disability to me
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are not the same.
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I don't think about my disability while I'm playing.
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I feel like myself.
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(high trilling crescendo)
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It's my form of meditation, I think.
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You know, there's a lot of work that we could do to make
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the arts more inclusive, so if I can be a catalyst
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for any of that that's important to me.
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That's cool. That's fun.
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(rhythmic banjo strumming)
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- [Chris] I'm Chris Funk.
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I'm a musician in a band called The Decemberists.
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And I'm on a journey looking for the most surprising
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and extraordinary people in music.
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My first stop takes me to Duluth, Minnesota.
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There I will meet up with Gaelynn Lea,
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an artist who creates music like nobody else.
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(Electric organ)
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I've shared the stage with some incredible people in my life,
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but the musician I am meeting today is truly extraordinary.
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My name is Gaelynn Lea, and I am a violinist
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and a songwriter from Duluth, Minnesota.
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- [Chris] I'd heard a lot about Gaelynn
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and was excited to meet her, little did I know
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that she was also a fan of The Decemberists.
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It turns out she had heard us play in 2004.
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[Gaelynn's friend] Hand spray-painted.
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No way, that's hilarious, I don't even have one of these.
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I'm keeping it, thank you.
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Please, no. (laughs) It's coming home (laughs)
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Last time, it was gonna be like a toy,
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but it was like oh no, this is the real deal.
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Yeah, it's legitimate, man.
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Gaelynn was born with brittle bone disease,
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which has left her in a wheelchair.
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But you'll really forget that after a few minutes.
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I started playing the violin when I was 10 years old.
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I loved the way the strings sounded.
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So the next year the teacher took it upon herself to help me
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figure out how to play up and down like a little cello.
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So it just meant I had to practice the same stuff
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a little bit harder probably and maybe
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that was a good thing in disguise.
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(slow melancholy tune)
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- [Chris] Gaelynn had been a part of the Duluth music scene
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for years when another musician gave her
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a device called a looping pedal.
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It allows her to record herself and
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play the music back while she's performing.
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And now I can play a song.
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(slow heartfelt tune)
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Looping was a mindblower, I mean
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it was so much a game-changer.
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'Cause it was just such a cool experience to go from
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one note to like 10 notes and have it be orchestrated.
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It opened up a lot of doors, instrumentally and vocally
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and everything just kind of changed when I got into looping.
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And then I might want to fade out.
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(emotive tune fades away)
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So you're engaging all that with your knee?
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Yep. Awesome.
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I'm always fascinated by the imagination musicians
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will use to create new and fresh sounds.
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But the ingenuity that Gaelynn has shown in her journey
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to produce beautiful music is truly inspiring.
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(snappy folk tune)
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I think any instrument but especially violin,
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the way I play automatically just sounds different
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than the way someone else plays.
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It's really cool how you develop a voice and a form
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of expression that's kind of unique.
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It just clears my mind and lifts my spirit.
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There's not anything else that I've found does that.
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(long violin note, banjo strumming)
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(audience applause)
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(bing)
