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 included the release of a live album in the first quarter, a US and Central America tour in the summer. A new studio album release is set for spring 2027.
While Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs know that only tacos and pets can make everyone happy, they aim to create a concoction of sounds that gets a lot of toes tapping and heads bobbing, and maybe make a few friends along the way. When not performing, the two can be found hiking the foothills and mountains of North Carolina with their growing menagerie of dogs and cat (just one… for now).
Kendra Harding- vocals, guitar, melodica, the Boom-Tak.
The child of a shoegaze guitarist and a Sonic the Hedgehog speedrunner (before it was cool), Kendra is an old soul with an eye toward the future. She thought of herself as a solo artist until she met Zack on a snowy night in 2014, when she started thinking a duo might not be so bad.
Her influences run the gamut from Regina Spektor to Nobuo Uematsu, and she loves creating all kinds of music, not just what you hear in BMLB. Notably, a short film she scored Who Do You Love? took home an Indie Short Fest award in 2021.
Kendra loves a good cup of coffee and tolerates a bad one. When she's not playing or writing music, she can be found playing video games, hiking, or doing her best to master a new recipe she saw on YouTube, usually with mixed results.
Zack Harding- vocals, guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica
Zack hails from the mountains of Western North Carolina, began playing music as a teenager, and has played in a variety of bands since. He's spent countless hours learning instruments, and is a master of switching things up during performance. His influences range from Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, to books he loves, to his personal adventures across the globe.
He also has experience in musical theatre, and worked with Anam Cara Theatre in Asheville, NC from 2013-2014. Zack performed in the Goblin Market musical, acted and performed in the Rope Burn production, and performed in their adaptation of The Baltimore Waltz.
Zack is a writer of everything from speculative fiction to non-fiction, with which he often fills his free time. He's also an avid gamer and lover of the outdoors and of dogs. Especially dogs.