Laura Doherty & the Heartbeats

Laura Doherty found her place in the acoustic-folk world early on, picking up the guitar at age 16. Originally from Westchester County, NY, she came to Chicago after college and soon joined the teaching staff of the legendary Old Town School of Folk Music. For over a decade, Doherty was the director of the Old Town School’s wildly popular early-childhood Wiggleworms program. In 2009, she took a daring leap and decided to go full-time with kids’ music, showing an intense passion for creating sweet, folk-inspired songs for children and families.

With an ear for a catchy melody, Doherty recorded her first album "Kids in the City" in 2009, winning the coveted Gold Parents’ Choice Award. The equally endearing "Shining Like a Star" (2011) and "In a Heartbeat" (2014) followed, and both won the Silver Parents' Choice Award. "Animal Tracks" (2016) is a collection of her most engaging animal songs, and Doherty's newest album, "High Five" (2018), received the Gold Parents' Choice award and is getting lots of radio play across the country. It explores the themes of friendship, family and childhood.

Before recording her own original children’s music, Doherty co-produced Old Town School’s Wiggleworms' "Love You" (2005) with Rich Rankin at Mosaic Music studio, and she has recorded educational songs for Disney Sound with indie rocker Ralph Covert of Ralph’s World. Often joined by her band of Chicago talent on stage, The Heartbeats, Doherty has performed hundreds of shows at premier venues and festivals across the country, including Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, Ravinia, Lollapalooza, Nashville's Pilgrimage Fest, Austin's SXSW, Philly’s World Cafe Live, Boston’s Club Passim and many more!