Claire Lynch Band
Characterized by plucked, stringed instruments paired with close, almost dissonant vocal harmonies, bluegrass has been subjected to influences from other genres and over time. It has been shaped by the musicians who have aligned themselves with this captivating, homespun music.
Claire Lynch and her band are a natural outgrowth of this process. Proponents of what's known as post-modern bluegrass, this outstanding performer visits Harrisburg with her band this weekend for what's being billed as a pre-Super Bowl concert.
Lynch was in Nashville last week when I talked to her by phone. She took a break from recording a holiday CD with her band in her home studio, planning to leave the next day for the tour that includes her concert in Harrisburg.
In the world of bluegrass, Lynch is a megastar. She's won the International Bluegrass Music Association award for best female vocalist 3 times--in 1997, 2010, and again just last year.
She also won a USA Walker Fellowship Award in 2012. The fellowship carries with it a $50,000 prize for innovation and influence in her field. Dolly Parton, according to Lynch's website, credits her with "one of the sweetest, purest, and best lead voices in the music business today."
Claire Lynch
You wouldn't guess Lynch's lofty stature by talking to her. She was friendly and open, yet articulate and knowledgeable. I had the feeling that I was talking to both a great musician and a friend.
"I ain't no spring chicken," she laughed, when I clumsily tried to find out how long she's been performing. She started in her late teens and has been involved in music for over 40 years as a songwriter, singer and guitarist.
She's known for creating a personal, unique sound while honoring the first wave of bluegrass musicians, people like Monroe and the Flatt and Scruggs duo I first admired in the 60s, during the height of the folk music era.
The other major influence is rock and roll. "I didn't grow up on farms and in the mountains," she said. She was an avid listener to Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell, and she continues to infuse pop elements into her style of bluegrass.
"It wasn't easy for me," she said. "Being female was a huge issue. Bluegrass was good ol' boys music. Women stayed back at the camper and cooked" while their men folk performed.
Through the 1950s, a female performer had to be chaperoned on stage; otherwise, she'd be dismissed as "a hussy," Lynch explained.
Lynch's timing was good, and her manner of dealing with gender bias was simple. She ignored it. "I was an innocent," she said. "I was sweet and never rude," but she just went right ahead and did what she wanted to do.
"For some people, bluegrass is an acquired taste," she continued. "It's crude, raw. Some think it's a kind of mountain hollering. It's not Barbra Streisand."
Audience members sometimes come up to Lynch after a concert and say, "I don't really like bluegrass, but I like you."
"We have a lot of fun," she said. The band's bassist, Mark Schatz, has been known to break out into some Appalachian clog dancing. Lynch promises "virtuosic playing and elegant picking."
"We are entertainers in a service business," she said. "We want people to walk out of our concerts and feel elated, different," changed by the experience.
"We're also ambassadors for the art form. I don't sit on a hay bale and paint polka dots on my face in order to make the music palatable. We haven't lost our bluegrass edge."
"We have enough respect for the tradition that we can ride the line between what's come before and what has evolved," she said.
It's Lynch's interpretation of bluegrass, coalescing tradition with creativity, that you can hear when her band comes to Harrisburg.
If You Go: Susquehanna Folk Music Society presents Claire Lynch Band, 2 p.m. 2/2, Appalachian Brewing Company, 50 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg. Tickets: $25; $21 SFMS and Seven Mountains Bluegrass Association members; $10 students 3-22. Info: sfmsfolk.org or 717-745-6577.
Ellen Hughes writes about fine arts, classical music and performances in the area. E-mail her at arts.ellenhughes@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @ellenbhughes.