The ensemble derives inexhaustible energy from the joy of invention and creation together. Their exuberant live shows and carefully crafted studio albums share a blissful irreverence for convention and an undying devotion to melody, spontaneity, and groove.

The four friends first met and began playing together as students in the jazz studies department at Boston’s New England Conservatory. Their first attempt at collaboration was to form a “free country band” that performed original country and western songs in an avant-garde style. This was a terrible idea. When they came to their senses, they discovered that their shared passion for the mo-town and British invasion bands of the 60s and 70s, could be used as a jumping off point for a much more palatable sound. The new, improved Lake Street Dive quickly became a popular fixture on the Boston music scene.

In 2006, Lake Street Dive entered the national arena when bassist Bridget Kearney’s “Sometimes When I’m Drunk and You’re Wearing My Favorite Shirt” won a Grand Prize and Lennon Award in The John Lennon Songwriting Contest. The prize resulted in increased exposure for the band, a Midwestern tour and the creation of their first studio album, “In This Episode…” Since then, Lake Street Dive has continued to evolve and expand, performing in some of the East Coast’s and Midwest’s finest venues and festivals, adding shakers, tambourines, and lush background vocals to their sound and sweater vests to their wardrobe.

Lake Street Dive is currently signed to Signature Sounds, a superlative acoustic music label born from the fertile western Massachusetts music scene, and their latest, self-titled record is undoubtedly their best yet. We are, however, still carrying the flame for this quartet here at FYO, along with their first two outstanding albums.