Celebrating Craft

I didn't really know much about the brewing process until my husband got into it over the pandemic. He bought a home brewing set and our basement turned into a science lab with pieces of equipment laid out everywhere. When I first saw our basement I thought, there is no way I could get into brewing beer myself. It is too much math and science, where I would rather go and market beer and promote it.

One of my goals for the podcast was to interview a brewery here in Maine, as the brewery industry has seen significant growth over the years. According to craft brewing business, over the last decade, on average 11 breweries open each year. That's a lot. I wanted to interview a brewery that has grown at a fast pace, has played around with innovative practices when it comes to its brewing and really just thinks way outside the box.

For the last episode of The Great North Sound Society Podcast Series, I had the chance to interview Bridget Kearney, a renowned singer songwriter who is a member of one of my favorite bands of all time, Lake Street Dive. Lake Street Dive recorded their album “Bad Self Portraits” at Great North Sound Society and Bridget continued to utilize the facility as a writer's retreat. This space gave her the chance to escape her day-to-day and focus on her craft.

Lake Street Dive has a big heart for Maine and continues to come back year-after-year to perform in Portland. They will be performing this fall at Thompson's Point. I was just in awe that they had recorded one of their most popular albums here in the great state of Maine. I think you will enjoy learning more about Bridget’s songwriting craft and her experience at this studio.

Next on the Makers of Maine Great North Sound Society Podcast Series is Isa Burke from Lula Wiles. Isa grew up in South Berwick, Maine and the other members of her band grew up in Farmington, Maine.

Isa describes her craft as “music.”

“I've been playing music my whole life, as have my bandmates. All of us come from musical families. Both of my parents are professional musicians and music teachers. My parents' names are Susie Burke and David Seret and they play a lot of different kinds of folk and traditional music. I grew up kind of immersed in the folk and roots music community in the sea coast area. It was kind of a no brainer for me. For a long time I wasn't totally sure if I wanted to be a professional musician, but I always knew that music was going to be a really big part of my life.”