Over the past 3 decades, over the course of a career that’s taken her around the world and back again, internationally lauded “songwriter’s songwriter” Dayna Kurtz has intermittently dived into her crate digger’s curated repertoire of largely obscure soul and R&B gems, as well as penned originals designed to sound as though they’d been unearthed from the same record hound’s favorite crypt, all caressed with the rich, rough and smoky vocals The Washington Post once described as a “…deep hued garnet of lifeblood and beauty.” The Jersey native and longtime Brooklyn resident has been living in New Orleans for a decade, and she seems to have found the natural habitat in which she can finally double down on her secret calling, fronting Lulu and the Broadsides with a roster of legendary New Orleans sidemen.

Dayna Kurtz was named Female Songwriter of the Year by the National Academy of Songwriters. She’s played the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, Primavera Sound Festival (Barcelona) and Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. Norah Jones (with whom she recorded a duet) and Bonnie Raitt have raved about her in interviews, she's performed on such high-profile radio shows as World Cafe, Mountain Stage and NPR's Morning Edition. In 2018, Offbeat magazine (New Orleans) nominated Dayna/Rise and Fall for 5 Best of the Beat awards, including best songwriter and album of the year, and in 2022 Lulu and the Broadsides debut album was nominated for 4, including album of the year.

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Photo Credit: Zach Williams