Photo of Gaelynn Lea playing her violin on stage under blue lights (Credit: Shaun Pugh, @shaunphoto)
Happy November, Friends!
Greetings!


I hope you are all doing well! Today was a good day. It started with an online event co-hosted by RAMPD in the US and Attitude is Everything in the UK. We talked about Disability Culture and our parallel fights for disability representation, inclusion, and accessibility in the music industry. Although we labor across the ocean from each other, we are one in spirit. The energy in the Zoom room could be described in one word: hope. It was a good feeling.
A black square with a grey sixteenth note that has a ball on top. It vaguely resembles a person in a wheelchair - the disability symbol. Below it reads in white letters: RAMPD - Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities.
In case you haven't heard yet, RAMPD [Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities] is a group I co-founded with Lachi earlier this year; I am honored to be working alongside her and so many other talented disabled music professionals to get this organization off the ground and help spread Disability Culture to the mainstream. We've been forming parterships with lots of different music organizations (like The Wavy Awards, who recently hosted an inclusive awards show for historically excluded talent!) - our mission is to help shift the narrative of disability away from a negative liability to a form of diversity that is celebrated and supported in our culture.

After that, I had a meeting about my book proposal and my next writing goals. I have a lot (lot lot LOT) left to write, but the chapter outline is complete and now it's just putting pen to paper... Slow and steady win the race! Then we had a monthly RAMPD Professional Members meeting where two folks from The Recording Academy presented about membership - we are trying to get more disability representation at all levels of the music industry, especially at the top to help us to shift culture on a wide scale!

Even though I'm in the thick of a lot of different projects (and who knows what the future holds) I feel very much like I am right where I am supposed to be, doing the work I was born to do. This is a humbling and exhilarating feeling, and I am so grateful for the opportunties I've been given in this life. Haha, also please remind me of this the next time I am late for a meeting! ;)
In the top left corner is Gaelynn's album cover which is a painting of a cactus. To the right it reads: For your GRAMMY Consideration / Best Contemporary Instrumental Album / The Living Room Sessions. Below that is a picture of Gaelynn holding her violin.
Another cool thing is that today (Friday) is the last day of first-round voting for the GRAMMY® Awards, and this year I actually have an album up for consideration! I'd be VERY surprised if it makes it to second-round voting, but a girl can dream! :) It's called "The Living Room Sessions - Gaelynn Lea Live" and it's in the category of "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album."

And as a cherry on top, I just logged into Bandcamp and it said I have 12,800 promotional download codes... So I'd like to give them to YOU!

FREE MUSIC: Hit reply to this email and I'll send you the download code of my latest album, "The Living Room Sessions - Gaelynn Lea Live"! It is mostly instrumental improvisations on my violin, but it does feature two vocal tracks as well. I created it at home last year using live recordings from my "Sunday Sessions" YouTube Concert Series. My friend Joel wrote a lovely review of the music at The Metal Wanderlust in case you want to learn more.

So that's it... Simply "reply" to this email and get some FREE music (allow a couple of days for me to respond, but I promise I will do so ASAP)!

Well, that's it for now... Time for bed after a long but fulfilling day. Thank you for all your support! Have a great weekend, and keep in touch!

Love,

Gaelynn Lea