Laura Cortese

Laura Cortese, an American fiddler, singer, and songwriter, makes her home in Boston. She has issued folk and singer/songwriter material both under her own name and through her band Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards, while also providing support for Pete Seeger, Band of Horses, and Uncle Earl. Born in San Francisco, she relocated to Boston for studies at the Berklee College of Music, then remained in the region as a sidewoman within the local roots-music community. Her first release, Hush, appeared on Jar Productions in 2004 and centered on her fiddling within a collection of Celtic folk pieces. Two years later she offered the self-released Even the Lost Creek, a leaner set of contemporary folk-pop. The live recording Blow the Candle Out arrived in 2007. Acoustic Project followed in 2010, still linking folk and pop traditions, and her fourth studio album, Into the Dark, came out in 2013. All in Always appeared in 2016. The following year Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards—Cortese together with Jenna Moynihan on fiddle, Valerie Thompson on cello, and Natalie Bohrn on bass—issued their debut, California Calling, through Compass Records. Produced and recorded by Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive), the album presented textured folk-rock enriched by varied keyboards, among them synthesizer.