Laurie Lewis

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For the American volleyball player, see Laurie Lewis (volleyball).
Laurie Lewis
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    Laurie Alexis Lewis[1] (born September 28, 1950) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter in the genre of bluegrass music.

    History

    Laurie Lewis was born in Long Beach, California on September 28, 1950. Her family moved regularly from place to place until she was eight years old, when they settled back in Berkeley.

    Berkeley Folk Festival 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

    Greenbriar Boys. Something about it just invited me to start playing it.[3]

    She began picking simple songs on the

    high school, she drifted away from the music, but always kept her fiddle under her bed, not knowing exactly why.[3]

    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.[3]

    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 didn't mind if she didn't want to learn, chapter and verse, the gospels of Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. The scene 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.[3]

    In the early 1970s she played with The Phantoms of the Opry, a Bay Area bluegrass band

    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."

    Laurie Lewis with band at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, September 3, 2005.
    Image by Jan1020

    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

    Grammy
    , and was previously nominated for that honor.

    Style and sound

    In addition to being well-known in the bluegrass world, Laurie has crossed many boundaries and played many genres, from bluegrass to folk and Americana.[3] While she has always been firmly grounded in the traditional roots music of America, the nuances she brings to the table have helped her branch out, even bringing the sound of California bluegrass to a wider audience and receiving recognition for it from her musical peers.[5]

    "She is

    fiddler, she could be from the 1940s or from 2010; it's timeless. As a singer, she knows the rules of 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
    ."

    -Sam Bush (Newgrass Revival founder and mandolin player)

    "To ask how Laurie Lewis’s music is relevant in this day and age, in the broader folk, Americana, and bluegrass scenes as a whole, would be similar to asking how a brick in a home’s foundation is relevant to its structure. Her influence, her reach and her artistic intent are quiet stalwarts on which so much has been built."

    -Justin Hiltner, Bluegrass Situation[3]

    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 was the program director for a music camp on the Oregon Coast called Bluegrass at the Beach which she has done with Tom Rozum, from 1992 until 2005. She was the director of Bluegrass Week at the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshops for 10 years, from 1986 until 1996.

    Lewis's songs have been recorded by others, including

    CDs, Lewis's skill in the recording studio has resulted in her being asked to produce recordings for a number of other artists, including Scott Nygaard, Erica Wheeler, The T Sisters, Alice Gerrard, American Nomad, Melody Walker and Jacob Groopman, Ray Bierl, and Diedre McCalla. She is also in demand as a teacher on fiddle and guitar
    , vocals, and songwriting.

    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.

    Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 2009
    With the Right Hands at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in October 2009.

    Personnel

    Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands comprises:

    • Laurie Lewis: Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals
    • Brandon Godman: fiddle
    • George Guthrie: banjo
    • Haselden Ciaccio: string bass

    Distinctions and awards

    • She received the Collaborative Recording of the Year award three times:[6] 1997, 2001, and 2020. In 1997 for True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe, in 2001 for Follow me Back to the Fold: A Tribute to Women in Bluegrass, and in 2020 for "The Barber's Fiddle", which she recorded alongside Becky Buller and a range of other artists.[8]

    Judging by the respect she has among fans and peers in the industry, Laurie is one of the pre-eminent

    Americana artists of our time. She spreads her talent over several genres - bluegrass, folk, country - and with the recognition she has within all those fields, I would certainly say she's one of the top five female artists of the last 30 years. And she continues to make great music.

    — Dan Hays, Executive Director, IBMA

    Discography

    See also

    References

    1. ^ "A HAND TO HOLD". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
    2. ISBN 9780252095887
      .
    3. ^ a b c d e f Official Website
    4. ^ "Laurie Lewis - Interviews".
    5. ^ "Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands". Musical Instrument Museum. December 6, 2022.
    6. ^ a b "Award Recipient-Laurie Lewis". IBMA.
    7. ^ RECIPIENT HISTORY - IBMA AWARDS Archived 2013-02-25 at the Wayback Machine International Bluegrass Music Association official webpage.
    8. ^ "2020 winners of the International Bluegrass Music Awards". 2 October 2020.

    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laurie_Lewis&oldid=1186379516"