Across The Blue Ridge - Laurie Lewis gives some classic repertoire a great new sound

California singer, songwriter, guitarist and fiddler Laurie Lewis was hooked on bluegrass fiddle when she heard recordings of the great fiddler Chubby Wise.  The experience changed her from a sometime musician to a dedicated pro.  Growing up in the San Francisco Bay area, she circulated with ease in the bluegrass world – a feat that would have been much harder in other, less liberated areas of the U.S. where the bluegrass community was most often a boys' club.  After Lewis encountered Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, who blazed trails for many other female performers, she came to understand how unusual her own experience had been.  She performed Hazel's songs, produced a CD for Alice – and has now released an album of Hazel and Alice repertoire with her own band, The Right Hands. On this week's Across the Blue Ridge, Laurie Lewis talks with host Paul Brown about the transitions in her musical life and about knowing Hazel and Alice.  Wrapping up our Women's History Month features, we hear lots of music from Lewis' new album and from some of her major influences. 

Episode 13 Playlist

1. Lee Highway Blues – Chubby Wise
   Album – Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, Pionerring Women of Bluegrass
   Smithsonian Folkways 1965
    
2. Beyond the River Bend – Laurie Lewis & Her Bluegrass Pals
   Album – Laurie Lewis & Her Bluegrass Pals 
   Rounder Records1999
    
3. Storms Are On The Ocean – Jean Ritchie & Doc Watson
   Album – Jean Ritchie & Doc Watson at Folk City
   Smithsonian Folkways 1990
    
4. Let Us Get Together Right Here – Reverend Gary Davis
   Album – Reverend Gary Davis Harlem Street Singer
   Fantasy 1992
    
5. Whistlin' Rufus – Chubby Wise & the Rainbow Ramblers
   Album – Fiddler's Hall of Fame
   Vintage Masters 2011
    
6. Peacock Rag – Chubby Wise
   Album – 30 Fiddlers' Greatest Hits
   Deluxe 1994
    
7. BREAK 1  Sugar Tree Stomp – Kenny Baker
   Album – Kenny Baker Master Fiddler
   County Records 1993
    
8. Little Liza Jane – Chubby Wise
   Album – Chubby Wise An American Original
   Pinecastle 1994
    
9. Worried Man Blues – Laurie Lewis & Her Right Hands
   Album – Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands Live
   Spruce and Maple Music 2008
    
10. Bluegrass Breakdown – Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
    78 RPM disc
    Columbia 1947
     
11. Won't You Come And Sing For Me – Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard
    Album -- Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, Pionerring Women of Bluegrass
    Smithsonian Folkways 1965
     
12. I Hear A Sweet Voice Calling – Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard
    Album -- Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, Pionerring Women of Bluegrass
    Smithsonian Folkways 1965
     
13. Train On The Island – Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
    Album – The Hazel & Alice Sessions
    2016
     
14. BREAK 2  New Five Cents – Paul Warren
    Album – America's Greatest Breakdown Fiddle Player
    CMH Records 1957
     
15. Let That Liar Alone – Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard
    Album – Hazel Dickens And Alice Gerrard
    Rounder Records 1998
     
16. Let That Liar Alone – Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
    Album – The Hazel & Alice Sessions
    Spruce and Maple Music 2016
     
17. Walking In My Sleep -- Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
    Album – Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
    Spruce and Maple Music 2016
     
18. Cowboy Jim – Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard
    Album -- Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, Pionerring Women of Bluegrass
    Smithsonian Folkways 1965
     
19. Darling Nellie -- Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
    Album – Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands
    Spruce and Maple Music 2016