* BLUEGRASS STAR FOCUSES ON THE HERE AND NOW
Jenifer Howk
* 01/29/99
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS
(Copyright 1999)
Laurie Lewis has a yodel that can bring the house down.
"I do yodel on occasion," Lewis said from her Berkeley, Calif.,
home. "My dad keeps telling me I should do an all-yodeling album.
That would really put me over the top."
Most critics might argue that Lewis is headed over the top anyway.
She has received a Grammy nomination and gushing reviews in
* publications from the Boston Globe to Bluegrass Unlimited, and won
* international recognition from the Bluegrass Music Association. And,
to top it all off, she's headlining the Anchorage Folk Festival this
weekend as a guest artist.
Lewis was inspired as a teenager in the '60s by the Berkeley Folk
Festivals and, in 15 years, has released 11 albums. She's just
finished another, due in May on Rounder Records, that she says is
* "definitely a straight-ahead bluegrass album."
The spirit of a folk festival drawing from many different
backgrounds appeals to Lewis.
"I love that they're often such a mixture."
Like the festivals she visits, Lewis' music is quite a mixture. A
vocalist, guitarist and widely acclaimed fiddle player, Lewis is the
first to admit her tunes aren't easy to describe, though she lists
influences from the Beatles to Billie Holiday.
"It's a real melting pot," she said. "It's acoustic roots
music."
Utah Phillips, a legendary singer-songwriter, said of Lewis:
* "Whatever country music is supposed to be, she's at the center of
it."
Lewis has been to Alaska before, in 1979. And while she expects
the cold weather to keep her mostly indoors, she said she's still
looking forward to returning.
"Alaska seems to have gotten further away since 1979," she said.
Lewis was in a serious car accident in 1994 and, through her
recovery, has embraced a new personal and musical philosophy.
"I'm looking at the here and now more than anything else," she
said. "I don't do a lot of planning. I try to stay in what's
happening now."
That philosophy is reflected in her recent music. A track from
her 1998 album "Seeing Things" called "Kiss Me Before I Die" begins:
"The Lord giveth and he taketh away/ I might not be around later
today."
Lewis speaks fondly of singing partner and mandolinist Tom Rozum
and bassist Todd Phillips, both of whom share her happening-now take
on life and will be appearing with her in Anchorage.
"There's always a musical conversation going on with these guys,"
she said. "It's always fresh -- you never know what's going to
happen.
"I think it's unusual to find musicians who stay in the moment
with music -- it should be that way all the time. It should be a
given."
