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If Jerry Garcia and Tom Waits made an Appalachian music duo, it might sound a little like the Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs. Hailing from Winston-Salem, NC Zack and Kendra Harding blend the traditional with the trippy to create original music they like to call folk(ish). Officially formed in 2016, the two have played extensively throughout the US, as well as toured internationally. They recently returned from a tour to the UK and Ireland, and are working on completing their third album. Their unique blend of sounds and easygoing personalities have recently earned the duo slots at Mill Farm Music Party (UK), Front Porch Fest, Rockwood Music Hall, Piedmont Folkways, and more.Their third album, Astronaut Music from Bedlam is representative of their growth as a band over the last seven years. Stepping into the wild and weird, the album explores everything from hundred-year-old murders, to three-month-long relationships and all spots in between.
While the Bugs know that only tacos and pets can make everyone happy, they aim to create a concoction of sounds that gets a lot of toes tapping and heads bobbing, and maybe make a few friends along the way. When not performing, the two can be found hiking the foothills and mountains of North Carolina with their two dogs, Joni and Moon Moon, and playing the nerdiest video games imaginable.
Kendra Harding- vocals, guitar, melodica, the Boom-Tak.
The child of a shoegaze guitarist and a Sonic the Hedgehog speedrunner (before it was cool), Kendra is an old soul with an eye toward the future. She thought of herself as a solo artist until she met Zack on a snowy night in 2014, when she started thinking a duo might not be so bad.
Her influences run the gamut from Regina Spektor to Nobuo Uematsu, and she loves creating all kinds of music, not just what you hear in BMLB. Notably, a short film she scored Who Do You Love? took home an Indie Short Fest award in 2021.
Kendra loves a good cup of coffee and tolerates a bad one. When she's not playing or writing music, she can be found playing video games, hiking, or doing her best to master a new recipe she saw on YouTube, usually with mixed results.
Zack Harding- vocals, guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica
Zack hails from the mountains of Western North Carolina, began playing music as a teenager, and has played in a variety of bands since. He's spent countless hours learning instruments, and is a master of switching things up during performance. His influences range from Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, to books he loves, to his personal adventures across the globe.
He also has experience in musical theatre, and worked with Anam Cara Theatre in Asheville, NC from 2013-2014. Zack performed in the Goblin Market musical, acted and performed in the Rope Burn production, and performed in their adaptation of The Baltimore Waltz.
Zack is a writer of everything from speculative fiction to non-fiction, with which he often fills his free time. He's also an avid gamer and lover of the outdoors and of dogs. Especially dogs.
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