A pioneering woman in bluegrass music, Laurie Lewis first fell in love with old-time, folk and bluegrass music at the Berkeley Music Festival in her home state of California. It was there she first saw artists like Doc Watson, Jean Ritchie, Gary Davis and John Hurt. She has released 20 albums since her debut recording in 1986, she's been producer for 14 recordings and has become a passionate educator, teaching at camps and workshops around the country.
One example is the summer-long Augusta Heritage Workshops held on the campus of Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, W.Va., where this segment was recorded in August 2017. For 10 summers, Lewis was the coordinator of Bluegrass Week for the Augusta workshops.
Lewis' latest is the Grammy-nominated album The Hazel And Alice Sessions, which pays tribute to ground-breaking female duo Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. Coincidentally, Gerrard was in the audience for this performance; she had been a Master Artist in residence for Old-Time Week at the Augusta Heritage Workshops, where she led a discussion on Women & Community in Old-Time Music.
Lewis is joined by Tom Rozum on mandolin, who sings lead vocals on "Millionaire," along with Max Schwartz on bass, Tatiana Hargreaves on fiddle and Justin Hiltner on banjo.
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