Lori Beth Accordionist Yodeler Accordion Player from Austin, TX

Lori Beth specializes in accordion performance, singing and yodeling in Western, Western Swing and traditional German folk music. She weaves her original songs into her performances, engaging the audience with fun stories and eliciting responses from them through questions, or with audience participation. Lori Beth Brooke is from Austin, Texas and a native Texan with German heritage. She grew up on a dairy farm in Nordheim, just southeast of San Antonio. Lori Beth started playing piano before she started elementary school. At age seven, she was finally big enough to hold an accordion and learned to play her first polka from the Palmer Hughes series; by 12, she was writing her own songs. With a B.A. in Music in piano and voice, and a M.S. in Computer Information Systems, Lori had a career in the computer industry managing database platform teams. However, her true calling is music. She has performed in a broad range of genres: Classical, Big Band, German folk, Musicals, Country, and, most recently, Western music for twenty years now. Learning to yodel after college, Lori Beth utilizes this unique singing technique extensively in both German folk music and Western music, and became the 2016 International Western Music Association "Female Yodeler of the Year". She began writing poems and then songs as a child. Her original songs reflect her lifetime of experiences, including stories she heard growing up on a farm. Writing mostly in a folk music style, Lori Beth’s songs range from humorous to melancholy, but often land on a positive view of life. Lori Beth continues to write songs: 10 of which ended up on her 2020 album “Texas Star” which has been awarded the 2020 International Western Music Association Cowboy Western Swing Album of the Year! On May 21, 2021, Lori Beth released her first official music video for one of her original songs, “Guys Love Chicks Who Yodel,” available on YouTube. Lori Beth was named the Academy of Western Artists 2020 Female Western Performer, and won the Walnut Valley Festival 2021 and 2024 Song of the Year in the Humorous category. She was also nominated for the 2021, 2024, and 2025 International Western Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year, 2021 Female Performer of the Year, 2024 Western Song of the Year, and 2024 and 2025 Western Swing Album of the Year. More recently, Lori Beth was nominated for the Academy of Western Artists 2024 Song of the Year in three categories. Lori Beth was excited to release her second album, “Light of the Moon,” in June 2024. This album includes 15 songs, 10 that are originals, ranging from straight-up Country to Western Swing.