155. Lyndsey Scott: Effervescent Song Catcher

In today’s episode we speak with Lyndsey Scott, a multimedia artist, song leader, song writer, and ritualist committed to exploring community singing as a technology of belonging and a strategy for mutual liberation.   The pace of this episode is beautiful – slow and mindful as we tapped into the grounding energy of Lyndsey.  She also got us to sing…twice! Today we discuss: Lyndsey’s early upbringing in a creative, musical home as well as a patriarchal, religious, conservative one.  She described herself as the “good girl” who wanted to please. Lyndsey went through what she called the pendulum swing toward rebellion when she ended up in St Louis and shaved her head, broke down all the codes the she was scripted with, and began to explore the world of art. A traumatic rupture in her mid 20s that brought her to her knees and made her realize life couldn’t continue in the same way, so she found yoga, meditation, and returned home to her family. The educational and heart opening decade she spent back in her home town with family healing her roots, reconnecting to song, doing social justice and race work, and ultimately finding her path forward. What song catching and community singing is, and how it collectively heals us. Lyndsey’s current adventure as a Grant Wood fellow and the amazing work she has done in our area to teach community singing as collective power. Bio:  Lyndsey Scott is a multimedia artist, songleader, songwriter, and ritualist committed to exploring community singing as a technology of belonging and a strategy for mutual liberation. Her initial studies in visual art focused on painting and she graduated with a BFA from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. She applied her studies in St. Louis, MO, as a Community Art Training Fellow where she explored participatory art, photography, interactive performance, and parades as catalysts for collective effervescence in sites as varied as basement shows, the St. Louis Art Museum, The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, street corners, caves, and public schools. Her reputation for playful and potent engagement earned recognition including the Grand Center Visionary Artist Award, Critical Mass for the Arts Stimulus, and the 52nd City Kick Ass Award. After a decade of work in community art, Scott became curious about what practices can support group transformation at an even deeper level.  She studied yoga at Kripalu Institute and permaculture at Earthaven EcoVillage and the Possibility Alliance, and then moved back to her rural Illinois hometown to apply these inquiries. She founded a small trauma-informed yoga studio, hosted affinity groups for racial healing, facilitated a garden project for formerly incarcerated men, taught art at a juvenile detention center, and instigated month-long bike service treks with “The Biking Superheroes.”  Along this healing journey, she discovered the power of collective singing.  She apprenticed with mentors Liz Rog, Lisa G. Littlebird, Laurence Cole, and Holistic Resistance to develop mastery in songleading, ritual craft, circle work, and grief tending. Scott composes and records mindful mantra music with a beat for the national and international community singing movement, including the albums Well Held (2022) and prodigal daughter (2024).  She collaborated with incarcerated musician Tony Rhodd to write Over/Under (2023), a powerful anthem for prison abolition. Her love song for the unknown, The Way Knows, is sung by thousands of people worldwide around campfires and conference tables alike. She currently co-facilitates the yearlong cohort of emergent earth-based ceremonial study with Earthkeeper Wisdom School (Hartsburg, MO) and leads song for politicized somatics practitioners in Embodying Racial Justice’s yearlong program, Opening to Freedom (Millerton, NY). Learn More: https://www.lyndseyscott.earth/about-me Past Episodes You Might Like With Artists: 147: A Conversation with Lissie – Our Podcast Singer! 135: Mandy Fabian: Fiercely Feminine Film Director 81: Ellis Elliot: Her Break in the Field 71: Dropping into Radiant Rest with Tracee Stanley 61: Marsha Nieland: A Possibilitarian Planting Seeds of Joy, Creativity, and Love 54: Kylie Patchett: Wild and F*cking Free Today’s Episode sponsored by: Kate Moreland Coaching Dr Yoga Momma Heartland Yoga For more information about the Tend Her 4.0 HOPE program visit here: https://dryogamomma.com/tend-her-4-0-hope/ To join us at the day long Hope Summit at Little Lights on the Lane in West Branch, IA on April 25 visit here: https://dryogamomma.com/hope-summit/ Want to Meet Betsy & Kate in Person on Retreat? Join us on a feminine reclamation journey to Paros, Greece in the Fall of 2025. There are just a few spots left. All the details here! Source