Laurie Lewis

Laurie Lewis took up the violin during her childhood years in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 1960s found her, as a teenager, absorbing the city’s vibrant folk community and developing a deep attachment to the forward-looking bluegrass sounds of Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, and especially Doc Watson. Throughout the 1970s she claimed multiple fiddling contest victories while moving between various local ensembles. In 1975 she joined her friend Kathy Kallick to establish the groundbreaking bluegrass outfit Good Ol’ Persons, remaining a member of the well-regarded band through 1979. Lewis next assembled the Grant Street String Band and made her solo entrance in 1986 with Restless Rambling Heart on Flying Fish, an album that blended old-timey textures with modern bluegrass and folk elements. Love Chooses You arrived in 1989.

The 1990 release Singin’ My Troubles Away appeared under the name Laurie Lewis & Grant Street and included guitarist Scott Nygaard, banjoist Tony Furtado, and mandolin player Tom Rozum. She reunited with Kallick for the 1991 project Together, which also marked the beginning of an extended association with Rounder. Following the 1993 album True Stories, Lewis and her bandmates suffered a serious automobile accident. After a brief hiatus she reemerged with Oak and the Laurel, an album built around a sequence of duets with mandolinist Rozum. (The recording earned a 1996 nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album Grammy.) Seeing Things surfaced in 1998 and highlighted Lewis’ strengths as a songwriter and vocalist. The following year brought the spirited Laurie Lewis & Her Bluegrass Pals.

During the early 2000s Lewis contributed guest appearances to recordings by other artists, spent time exploring her secondary instrument the acoustic bass, and experimented with production. By 2004 she resumed issuing her own material, releasing Guest House alongside Rozum. Rozum returned for the 2006 album The Golden West, credited to Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands.