Jodi’s Music
Jodi McLaren, based in Asheville, NC, is a queer mega-feelings folk rock singer-songwriter with a joyful heart and a calming presence. Her music is inspired by Anaïs Mitchell, Brandi Carlile, Rising Appalachia, Carsie Blanton, Beautiful Chorus, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and many others. Her latest single, Unexplode the Bombs, is a prayer for collective liberation, inspired by Palestine. By imagining the destruction of war in reverse, the song invites us to grieve all that has been lost, and to protect all that can still be saved.
From 2022-2025, McLaren was a contract music therapist for Pyramid Healthcare, serving hundreds of teens & adults in recovery for addiction, eating disorders, and mental health challenges.
In 2020, McLaren won first place in the Hidden Voices songwriting contest at Asheville’s Grey Eagle. In 2019, McLaren completed her first solo National Queer Your Living Room Candle Light tour, bringing queer communities together in 30 living rooms and back yards across the US for intimate stories and songs about love and coming of age as a lesbian in the 2000s to 2010s. She opened for activist folk duo Emma’s Revolution in 2018.
From 2015-2018, McLaren worked as a full-time music therapist, where she led songwriting workshops with veterans, people with disabilities, stroke survivors, cancer survivors, inmates, kids, people with acute mental health issues, and mothers in addiction rehab.
She can be found traveling & hiking around with a ukulele in her backpack, ready to sing a community into being with whomever is around. Her music is intimate, courageous, playful, honest and overflowing with love.
Live Concerts
To book a concert in your home, backyard, or venue, please email: jodi@jodimclaren.com.
Recent Releases
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Love Will Find a Way (2021)
By: Jodi McLaren & Rachael Maddox
Recorded 2019; Released 2021
When the Dust Settles (2021)
Purchase the single “When the Dust Settles” and receive a post card in the mail with the album art and a personal message from Jodi.
QYLR Live Album (2019)
The live album is Jodi McLaren’s queer love & relationship memoir through songs and stories. Recorded live in Oakland during her first national Queer Your Living Room Candlelight Tour.
Queer folks, straight folks, and everyone in between will relate to Jodi’s honest love and open heart.
Pre-order today and receive the live digital album NOW, before it’s publicly released later in 2020.
BONUS: when you pre-order the album, you’ll get a free digital download of the unreleased single: Love Will Find a Way.
Big Catch (2018)
Soulful intimate love-inspired songs from the heart.
When you purchase Big Catch here, you’ll receive a free exclusive bonus track: Desert Blue feat. Kirsten Mackey.
Music Video
Special thanks to Matt Haeck (audio producer), Ricardo Madrazo (videographer), and Panteon 19 in Todos Santos, Mexico.
Wear Your Mega Feelings
The phrase Mega Feelings started as a bumper sticker Jodi & her bestie Rachael Maddox made to give away at Burning Man. It became a descriptor for Jodi’s music, and a catch phrase for all of us who are capable of feeling intensely and expressing our emotion through tears, laughter, songs, art and connection. Mega Feelings apparel is for everyone ready to break the stigma that showing feelings is a sign of weakness… because it’s not; it’s a healthy part of being human.
These MEGA-FEELINGS tri-blend racerback tank tops are SO comfortable, and stylish. Choose your color and feel all the feels.
Order yours by Dec 12th to be sure it arrives by Christmas!
Carry around everything you need for the day in this awesome Mega Feelings tote bag :)
Order yours by Dec 12th to be sure it arrives by Christmas!
We all know babies have mega feelings and they remind us that it’s okay to feel! Celebrate the spectrum of your baby’s mega feelings with these comfy soft onesies.
Order yours by Dec 12th to be sure it arrives by Christmas!
Booking & Press
Jodi is available for concerts in the Western NC Region and beyond. She enjoys intimate backyards and living rooms as much as music venues & festivals.
For booking inquiries, please email: jodi@jodimclaren.com or feel free set up a phone call here.
Stay in touch.
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