Meet Kendra Harding

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kendra Harding.  

Kendra, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs’ story began on a snowy evening in 2014 when I walked into an open mic night in Hendersonville and met Zack. A week later, I came back to that open mic on a date with someone else, and Zack crashed the date. My date left; Zack and I talked for a long time and made plans to jam together another time. 

Over the next few months, we kept playing music together, sharing shows with each other, and eventually, we started dating. I’d sworn off dating musicians but decided to make an exception. We got married in 2015, and the band officially played its first shows under our current moniker in 2016. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been super smooth, and we’ve never had a single problem! 

Just kidding! Initially, getting our name out there was incredibly difficult. People just didn’t know us yet and so they weren’t inclined to book us for much. We also didn’t really know what sort of places were a good fit for us as performers because we were still sort of finding our identity as a band. Those first few years, playing shows was a hobby we did a couple times a month. The more we were asked to play, the more we were able to hone our live performances and really figure ourselves out as a band. Eventually, that built to a point where we were looking at each other, saying, “Maybe we need to do music full-time.” 

So, in 2019, we both left our 9 to 5s and became fully self-employed, just in time for a pandemic to hit. Everyone dealt with so much during that period, and those first few months of lockdown were incredibly hard on us both from an emotional standpoint and from a material standpoint. I’d been teaching private music lessons on the side some, so that was the only income we had for that period, and during that time, I lost most of my private students. That definitely made us question our life choices. 

We committed to writing and recording from home during that time, as well as trying to champion all the small businesses we worked with during that time. Most of the folks who invite us out to play were in the same boat as us, so we were doing our best to livestream from our living room for every show that had to be canceled and remind people that these businesses and nonprofits needed their support. Maybe music, art, food, and beer aren’t “essential services,” but they’re an important part of the cultural fabric of North Carolina. So, like so many musicians during that time, we did our best to keep that fabric together. 

Thankfully, we were able to recover from that period and have been playing as many shows as ever. I feel really lucky to be able to make a living playing and teaching music for people, but like any small business, the hours can be super long. I like to tell people I’m a professional driver because we drive more hours per week than we play. The other challenge we’re facing now is that — with inflation — the tips and sales that make up a significant portion of our monthly income have slowed down considerably from where they were a year ago. Everyone is feeling the squeeze. There’s not much I can do about that, so I just try to amp up my generosity towards other people in the service industry who depend on tips, sales, and other non-guaranteed income. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are composers, songwriters, performers, and music educators. My background is in music business, voice, and composition, and Zack has a 20+ year track record of performing in all sorts of rock bands in Western North Carolina. We call our brand of music folk(ish), and we blend traditional and trippy for a fun, energetic folk-rock show. We hold very punk rock, DIY values, and we’ve made this crazy thing we do for a living somehow work for us. I think I’m most proud of the fact that we’ve just kept going. 

Being an artist of any kind can be really challenging on an emotional level. We’re sensitive people, after all! 😉 But seriously, you get a ton of rejection from a lot of different directions. Venues might not want to book you, you’re not the right fit for certain crowds, other musicians may be petty towards you. I can’t think of one musician I know who can’t tell you the same thing of their experiences. The successes we share on social media, I think, are small in comparison with the rejections. If you can deal with all of that, getting to bed at 3 am after a show on Friday and getting up at 8 am on Saturday to go play another one, and still somehow run the business side of what you do, then I think that’s worth celebrating. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Putting in the work will win out over luck every time. That’s not to say we haven’t gotten some cool opportunities that dropped in our lap (for example, our UK tour this summer wouldn’t have happened if a radio DJ hadn’t heard us, liked us, and agreed to put us in touch with a festival there when we asked). That’s pretty lucky, in my opinion. But we also wouldn’t have that luck if we weren’t putting music out, performing all over the place, and trying to be good neighbors in the music world. Things may not pay off immediately, but I think if you get up every day and slog through some of the unfun parts of your craft, it pays off eventually. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brownmountainlightningbugs.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brownmountainlightningbugs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brownmountainlightningbugs/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrownMountainLightningBugs
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/brownmtnlightningbugs
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4lfr4bji1E1fk3X5ZmR75t 

Image Credits
Caroline Belle
Aliyah Bryant
Alori Cerutti
Becca Smith
Patty Young
Kendra Harding