Lynn Blakey: A Celebration of Her Life and Music
Featuring Chatham County Line, Tift Merritt, Skylar Gudasz, Caitlin Cary, Tonya Lamm, Sara Bell, John Howie, Linda Hopper, Jeffrey Dean Foster, Caroline Mamoulides, Anne-Claire Cleaver, Rachel Keil, Mary Johnson Rockers & More
Backed by an All-Star Tarheel Band: John Chumbris, Doug Davis, Wes Lachot, Will Rigby & Robert Sledge
Lynn Blakey, one of the most beloved singers North Carolina ever produced, died February 6. Those who knew Blakey speak of her kindness, beauty, and optimism, and the way she lit up any room she was in. All true. She was like a sun that never set, and a tireless warrior—an activist with North Carolina Music Love Army, and an unofficial advisor to friends trying to negotiate the intricacies of the Affordable Care Act.
A spectacular vocalist and terrific songwriter, Blakey played in North Carolina and Athens, Ga., bands including Oh Ok (with Lynda Stipe), Let’s Active (with Mitch Easter), Holiday (with Linda Hopper), Glory Fountain (with John Chumbris), Tres Chicas (with Caitlin Cary and Tonya Lamm), and most recently, the indie-rock supergroup Salt Collective (including tracks with Mike Mills and Matthew Caws). Her Christmas shows with her husband, violinist Ecki Heins, were treasured local events as well. She was our scene’s Emmylou Harris, blessing scores of other friends’ recordings with her voice for the ages.
Yep Roc Records is releasing Dreams Are Lovers: A Retrospective, a collection of some of her marvelous songs, on May 29, and the concert is both a celebration of her life and a record-release performance for this release.
“Anybody Lynn ever met immediately realized what a bright shining star she was,” said her Tres Chicas bandmate Lamm. “Not like a rock or movie star, but a brilliant light of kindness, happiness, and depth. A living angel. I can still hear her laugh and will hold that in my heart forever.”
Blakey’s musical life began four decades ago at UNC-Greensboro, where she was a college radio deejay and avid concert-goer. When R.E.M. played Friday’s in Greensboro for the first time in 1981, she was one of perhaps 20 people in the room.
Inspired, she began playing in bands herself, among them Broken Crayons and, later, Holiday with Linda Hopper. In 1983, she left school and toured with Let’s Active, eventually landing back in Chapel Hill and fronting a series of great bands over the years.
“All I ever had to do was put a mic in front of her,” said Chris Stamey, who frequently recorded Blakey, “and the first take would always have magic in it. To us, she was family, even singing some of the Tres Chicas album with everyone around one mic while holding our young daughter, Julia, in her arms.”
The May 30 concert will benefit Ecki Heins’s ongoing cancer treatment expenses, and sales from the Yep Roc release will benefit the NC Musicians Mental Health Alliance, a partnership between Be Good To Yourself, the SIMS Foundation, and Backline that provides grants up to $1,000 to help cover the cost of mental health care for North Carolina-based music industry professionals and their family members. Apply here:
https://backline.care/case-management
– excerpted from an article in INDYWEEK by David Menconi
