Lynn Blakey

Dreams Are Lovers - a Retrospective Lynn Blakey RSD Black Friday 2026 edition

Dreams Are Lovers: A Retrospective, a 12-track, career-spanning LP collection from beloved North Carolina-based chanteuse and songwriter Lynn Blakey, who passed away earlier this year following complications from metastatic cancer, is set for an RSD Black Friday release on Schoolkids Records.

Known for having been the inspiration for The Replacements’ iconic song “Left of the Dial" and for her work with Tres Chicas, the Salt Collective, Let’s Active and alongside artists including Alejandro Escovedo, Jeffrey Dean Foster, and Velvet Crush, Blakey also was a remarkable and passionate songwriter herself. But this has been, until now, somewhat “hidden in plain sight.” This collection, curated by Chris Stamey and carefully remastered for this release, will change that.

Evocative rockers such as “Rest” and “The Beauty of 23” from Glory Fountain, her 1990s collaboration with guitarist John Chumbris, sit beside Americana tracks like “Sweetwater” (with Tres Chicas) and “Immigrant Heart”, and dream-rock such as “In the Shadow of the Moon” with R.E.M’s Mike Mills and “Love Finds (Allumente)” with her husband, violinist Ecki Heins, the “Stolen German”. The energetic “How We Breath” features help from Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) and Kimberly Rew (Katrina and the Waves, the Soft Boys). Also included is her rendition, with Mitch Easter and Chris Stamey, of Let’s Active’s classic “Room with a View.”

The proceeds from Dreams Are Lovers: A Retrospective will benefit Backline, a mental health and wellness resource for music professionals and their families, in partnership with North Carolina’s Be Good to Yourself and SIMS Foundation.

With detailed liner notes by David Menconi and rare photos of some of her decades-long collaborations.