Two-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year and Grammy-nominated artist Claire Lynch will be bringing her trio to North Andover on Saturday, April 9 at the Crossroads Coffeehouse, Old Center Hall, 3 Great Pond Road. For tickets & more information, call 978) 687-3960 anytime, or (978) 687-7948 after 5:30 on concert nights or visit http://crossroads-coffeehouse.org/
By any measure, The Claire Lynch Trio is high on the bluegrass world’s A-List. The musicians’ accolades include two international Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Female Vocalist of the Year awards and two Grammy nominations for Best Bluegrass Album (Claire); Canadian Open Mandolin Championship and Florida State Championship on both fiddle and mandolin (Jason Thomas); and the MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Champion (Matt Wingate).
Claire’s musical direction dates back to the days of the Front Porch String Band, resulting in a seasoned sound that is simultaneously unpretentious and richly textured. It’s a down-home, front porch sensibility—until you realize that it’s a rare front porch, indeed, that has ever hosted musicians of this caliber. Ontario native Jason Thomas brings monster chops on fiddle and mandolin, supported by remarkable musical versatility and imagination. And Matt Wingate is a remarkably soulful young gun whose mature improvisational musicality is seemingly far beyond his years, making him instantly at home in one of the greatest bluegrass bands currently on the scene.
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Dolly Parton credits Claire with “one of the sweetest, purest and best lead voices in the music business today.” Claire’s harmonies have graced the recordings of many stellar musicians, from Ralph Stanley to Linda Ronstadt. Equally gifted as a songwriter, her songs have been recorded by The Seldom Scene, Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, The Cherryholmes, The Whites and others.
In the Winter of 2005, Claire signed her second three-album deal with Rounder Records. The first release, New Day (March ’06), was a top favorite pick for several publications, scored a #1 song on the National Bluegrass Survey and an IBMA nomination for “Song of the Year”. Next came the anthology collection, Crowd Favorites (October 2007) which earned another couple of top ten positions on the survey. Ms. Lynch describes her follow-up CD, Whatcha Gonna Do (September 2009) as “Americana-inflected bluegrass.” It took the #1 spot on the January 2010 BMP national bluegrass CD chart and was included in several “Top Pick” CD lists for 2009.
