Lindsay Lou


Lindsay Lou is an American singer-songwriter and indie folk musician. She began performing bluegrass music professionally in 2009 with The Flatbellys in Lansing, Michigan. The band issued Release Your Shrouds in 2012, and their second album Ionia three years later. In 2018 Lou released the acclaimed Southland, and followed that up with the critically lauded Queen of Time in 2023.

Early life and career

Shortly after she was born in the Missouri coal mining country where her father was working, Lou's family moved to Iron Mountain in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Lou's mother was one of a dozen siblings, which resulted in "cousins, aunts and uncles jamming together" at large, musical family gatherings in the remote northern area.
While attending Michigan State University in 2008, Lindsay Petroff met The Flatbellys after singing at an open mic night at Dagwood's Tavern. When asked to join the group she took a stage name and began a ten-year run touring as Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys.
The group, originally consisting of Lou, mandolin player Joshua Rilko, Joshua Brand and Jesse Myers, recorded and released the album Release Your Shrouds in 2012. The band toured heavily, while Rilko and Lou were married in 2011 and released a duo album Time & Luck in 2013. Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys followed up with Ionia, named for the couple's Ionia, Michigan residence, with additional band members P.J. George and Mark Lavengood in 2015.
With Mark Lavengood leaving The Flatbellys, the group name was dropped in 2018 for the release of Southland by Lindsay Lou. The album was called "an experiment in stretching the boundaries of bluegrass to breaking point, with infusions of blues, jazz, roots and soul." Queen of Time was released in 2023 with Lou by now embarking on a solo career. In an interview, Chris Parton described music where "lyrics and voice weave together into something like a sonic dreamcatcher – snatching ethereal truths from the cosmos and translating them in ways the mind can just begin to process." The voice of Lou's grandmother is heard on the album, and reviews noted the memories of her grandmother provided Lou with inspiration throughout a difficult period.

Personal life

Lou graduated from Michigan State University in 2008 with bachelor's degrees in human biology and Spanish. After marrying, Lou and Rilko moved to East Nashville, Tennessee, spending some time living across the street from fellow musicians Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings. Rilko and Lou were divorced in 2020.

Discography

Studio albums
Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys:
  • Release Your Shrouds
  • Ionia
Joshua Rilko and Lindsay Lou:
  • Time & Luck
Lindsay Lou:
  • Southland
  • ''Queen of Time''