Laurie Lewis
(born September 28, 1950 in Long Beach, California), is an American bluegrass musician. When not on tour, she makes her home in Berkeley, California.
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LAURIE LEWIS TICKETS
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History
Laurie Lewis fell in love with
American folk music as a teenager, at the sunset of the 1960s
folk revival. She says of the
Berkeley Folk Festivals where she first caught the
folk bug:
"Oh, it was so exciting. Every night there were concerts, and during the day you'd be in a eucalyptus grove listening to someone making music with nothing between you and them. Every day I'd hear something new, Doc Watson or the Greenbriar Boys. Something about it just invited me to start playing it." [1]
She began picking simple songs on the
guitar, then the
fiddle. After
high school, she drifted away from the music, but always kept her
fiddle under her bed, not knowing exactly why.
In her early 20s, she discovered the
Bay Area bluegrass scene. To her, it was . .
"like opening that door all over again. Here were all these people making music together, and I could immediately see myself as part of it. It woke up all that excitement I felt as a teenager, and I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life."
The bluegrass scene of
Northern California was a powerful mix of the region's historic
progressivism and ardent devotion to musical tradition. Nobody minded that young Laurie was a woman, a non-southerner, or a novice. They did mind if she didn't want to learn, chapter and verse, the gospels of
Bill Monroe and
Ralph Stanley. It gave her a rock-ribbed foundation in the rudiments of American roots music.
"It really was a different deal coming to bluegrass in the San Francisco Bay area. There weren't a lot of cutting contests; it was all about making music together, a focus on interdependency rather than individual prowess."
In the mid-1970s, she co-founded the
Good Ol' Persons, an all-female
bluegrass band with
Kathy Kallick. In 1979 she founded the
Grant Street String Band, also including
Beth Weil,
Tom Bekeny,
Greg Townsend, and
Steve Krouse, in which her own
songwriting came to the forefront. In the late 1980s, she formed "Laurie Lewis and Grant Street". Since then, she has recorded solo and duo albums, usually accompanied by
mandolin artist and singer,
Tom Rozum. Nowadays, she often plays under different names with a fairly regular roster of musicians, calling themselves "Laurie Lewis and her Bluegrass Pals," "the Guest House Band;" in 2006, she renamed her group "Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands."
Many years ago, Lewis twice won California's Women's Fiddling championships. She is a versatile musician, having for many years played bass and sung with the late
Dick Oxtot's
Golden Age Jazz Band, as well as with the
Bay Area band the
Arkansas Sheiks. Lewis plays guitar and other string instruments. As a crossover artist, Lewis is comfortable with
folk music and some
pop music. She writes her own lyrics as well as composing the music. Her
Songbook
contains most of the songs she wrote in the twentieth century, as well as photographs from her from early life and the early days of her career. She has received a
Grammy, and was previously nominated for that honor.
Recordings and performance
Lewis, accompanied by Tom Rozum, has appeared at the
Grand Ole Opry and several times with
Garrison Keillor on
A Prairie Home Companion
. She is also the program director for a Music Camp on the Oregon Coast called Bluegrass at the Beach
[2] which she has done with
Tom Rozum since 1992.
Lewis's songs have been recorded by others, including
Kathy Mattea, and she has accompanied
Holly Near. She has been invited to accompany many other artists, including the late
Kato Sanden, a
Norwegian pop star, and the legendary (but still active)
Ralph Stanley. Besides producing her own
CDs, Lewis's skill in the recording studio has resulted in her being asked to produce recordings for a number of other artists. She is also in demand as a teacher on
fiddle and
guitar.
Lewis has toured widely in many parts of the world, including most
European countries,
China, and
Japan. When not on tour, she makes her home in
Berkeley, California.
Style and sound
"She is newgrass in the truest sense of the word, in that she uses Bluegrass music
—bluegrass instruments to create new original music: it's music for now. As a fiddler, she could be from the 1940s or from 2010; it's timeless. As a singer, she knows the rules of Bluegrass music, bluegrass and how to sing in her own voice. She's probably one of the few female singers who really knows the nuances of the Ralph Stanley vocal style."
Personnel
Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands comprises:
- Laurie Lewis: Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals
- Tom Rozum: Mandolin, Vocals
- Scott Huffman: Guitar, Vocals
- Craig Smith: Banjo
- Todd Phillips: Bass
Distinctions and awards
- Laurie Lewis twice won California's Women's Fiddling championships.
- She won a Grammy for True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe
1997.
- She was nominated with Tom Rozum for a Grammy for their collection of duets, The Oak and the Laurel
, in the category of Best Traditional Folk Album of 1995.
- Twice named Female Vocalist of the Year by the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association).
"Judging by the respect she has among fans and peers in the industry, Laurie is one of the pre-eminent Bluegrass music
—bluegrass and Americana music, Americana artists of our time. She spreads her talent over several genres - Bluegrass music
Discography
- Grant Street String Band
(1983)
- Restless Rambling Heart
(1986)
- Blue Rose
with Blue Rose: Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Molly Mason, and Sally Van Meter (1989)
- Love Chooses You
(1989)
- Singin' My Troubles Away
with Grant Street Band (1991) Flying Fish Records — ASIN: B000000MOQ
- True Stories
(1993) — ASIN: B0000002L5
- Together
with Kathy Kallick (1995) — ASIN: B0000002M1
- The Oak and the Laurel
with Tom Rozum (1995) — ASIN: B0000002N6
- Earth & Sky: Songs of Laurie Lewis
(1997) — ASIN: B0000002PL
- Seeing Things
(1998)
- Laurie Lewis and Her Bluegrass Pals
(1999) — ASIN: B00000IP88
- Winter's Grace
with Tom Rozum (2003)
- Birdsong
- Guest House
with Tom Rozum (2004) Hightone Records — ASIN: B0001LJCQ6
- The Golden West
with the The Right Hands (2006) Hightone Records — ASIN: B000H5V8T0
- Live
- with The Right Hands (2008) Spruce & Maple
References
- Official Website
- Bluegrass at the Beach