Louise Kelly

Louise Kelly is an accomplished singer/songwriter, pianist, educator, environmental activist and podcast producer. Born and raised just outside Chicago, Illinois, her musical origin story starts in a teen rock band, heavily influenced by Stevie Wonder, and has unfolded through many genres, including jazz, pop strings, and arriving presently in her own singer-songwriter style.

Performing professionally since age 16, Louise is a seasoned band-leader and has performed with groups at prominent Chicago venues, such as the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, Soldier Field. Currently, she performs her own material from her most recent album, Two Gardens. As a performing artist, Her music reflects the pursuit to connect and learn from nature. After releasing her debut album Cave Paintings and Silent Movies, she followed up with “We Belong to the Earth” and Two Gardens, in August 2020. Her latest single “Deep Roots” was released in April 2022 with an animated music video that features plants and animals of the prairie - Illinois’ predominant ecosystem.

Louise was awarded an Illinois Arts Council Agency grant, which helped fund the “Deep Roots Program” which she produced alongside fellow educators Jean Kent, Jackie Flanagan, and a local sustainability nonprofit, SCARCE (School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education). The interactive, school-assembly program teaches children about the prairie through story and song. She has produced 4 seasons of the sustainability podcast, “Earth Chats” for SCARCE, and continues to work alongside them as they bring the Deep Roots Program to local schools and community groups. A certified teacher with an MA in Music Education, Louise is also a Climate Reality Leader, as well as a Treesister with Treesisters International.

Downers Grove, Illinois is currently the home of Louise and her daughter, Noelle, as well as LMK Studios, the teaching studio through which Louise provides piano instruction for students of all ages.