Lake Street Dive
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College internships can run the gamut. They can lead you into a career or dissuade you from pursuing one altogether. In 2004, while still attending the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, singer Rachael Price, bassist Bridget Kearney, guitarist Mike \\u201cMcDuck\\u201d Olson, and drummer Mike Calabrese joined forces to perform as what they dubbed a \\u201cfree country band,\\u201d where they intended to play country music in an improvised, avant-garde style. As it goes with many college-years experiments, it didn\\u2019t stick, but the fervid foursome pushed forward in continuing to develop their own sound. They quickly graduated to a bona fide band cultivating a buzz with infectious concerts, creative covers, and complex, groovy originals. Through their mutual influences and complimentary counterpoints, their sound matured into a harmonious fusion, as if Berry Gordy produced the Beatles in Nashville\\u2019s RCA Studio.
If starting a band and shaping their sound was an internship and bachelor\\u2019s degree, self-releasing records and organizing U.S. tours would be their master\\u2019s and doctorate. They self-released 2007\\u2019s In This Episode... and 2008\\u2019s Promises, Promisesbefore joining Signature Sounds, who put out 2010\\u2019s Lake Street Dive and 2014\\u2019s Bad Self Portraits. (The latter slotted them on the Billboard charts\\u2014No. 18 in the 200 and No. 5 in Top Rock Albums.) They then signed to Nonesuch, where they\\u2019ve dropped three more albums\\u2014most notably 2016\\u2019s Side Pony, which put them atop the Top Rock Albums chart, while 2021\\u2019s Obviously netted them their highest single, with \\u201cHypotheticals\\u201d hitting No. 2 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart.
And while the band has continued to evolve, experiment, and expand their signature sound, they have kept to their core identity\\u2014having fun. They seem never to miss a Halloween dress-up show, and still aren\\u2019t gun-shy about covering classics and making them their own. Setlists are often littered with audience requests and reinterpretations of the Beatles, Hall & Oates, George Michael, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis, Shania Twain, the Pointer Sisters, the Jackson Five, the Kinks, Steely Dan, Annie Lennox, Sly & the Family Stone, and countless others.
The afternoon before their second consecutive sellout at Nashville\\u2019s Ryman Auditorium, Lake Street Dive\\u2019s Bridget Kearney and James Cornelison welcomed PG\\u2019s Chris Kies on stage for a casual gear chat. Kearney explained how she uses a pair of octave pedals through her standup double bass, and what she\\u2019s doing with four tuners! Plus, she explains what restarted her slow-burn courtship with electric bass. Then, Cornelison walks us through his setup, which includes leftover pieces from cofounding guitarist Mike \\u201cMcDuck\\u201d Olson and a ratty pickup bought off a former PGstaffer. It both honors the band\\u2019s catalog and carves his own musical fingerprint.
Brought to you by D\\u2019Addario Nexxus 360 Tuner.
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