Live Music: Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs

About this event

The brainchild of a prog-rock guitarist and a classically-trained composer/singer, folk fusion duo Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs formed in 2016 shortly after the founding members, Kendra and Zack Harding, tied the knot. Fans have described their music as “effortlessly complex” and blues legend Henry Turner Jr. calls it “funky mountain music.” Blending traditional with trippy, the two have played throughout the US and internationally, including slots at the Anchorage Folk Festival, Confluence Carolinas, Tucson Folk Festival, Mill Farm Music (UK), Rockwood Music Hall, Piedmont Folkways, and more.

In 2024, the Bugs were the winners of the Mallarme Dynamic Duos contest, and in 2025 Kendra was the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council Artist Support Grant, a merit-based award for full-time creatives. Showing no signs of slowing down, their plans for 2026 include the release of a live album in the first quarter, a US and Central America tour in the summer, and a studio album release in spring 2027.