Grammy winner appears in Fallon on Oct. 19

Grammy Award-winning musician Laurie Lewis is internationally renowned as a singer, songwriter, fiddler, bandleader, producer and educator. She was a founding member of the Good Ol’ Persons and the Grant Street String Band and has performed and recorded since 1986 with her musical partner, mandolinist Tom Rozum. Laurie has twice been voted “Female Vocalist of the Year” by the International Bluegrass Music Association and has won the respect and admiration of her peers.

Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands will make their Fallon debut at the Oats Park Arts Center’s Barkley Theatre on Oct. 19. The box office, Art Bar and galleries open at 7 p.m., with the performance beginning at 8 p.m. A post-performance question and answer with the artists is also planned.

Tickets are $17 for members, $20 for nonmembers. Tickets are available at Jeff’s Copy Express, ITT at Naval Air Station Fallon or call the Churchill Arts Center at 775-423-1440.

A free Conversation with the Artists begins at 3 p.m., also at the Oats Park Arts Center.

Linda Ronstadt speaks for many when she says of Laurie: “Her voice is a rare combination of grit and grace, strength and delicacy. Her stories are always true.”

A pioneering woman in bluegrass, Laurie has paved the way for many young women today, always guided by her own love of traditional music and the styles of her heroes that came before. At the same time, she has steadfastly followed her personal muse and remained open to new influences.

Inspired by the music she heard at the festival, Laurie started learning guitar and then bluegrass banjo. A friend took her to Paul’s Saloon in San Francisco, a bar that featured bluegrass music every night, and Laurie experienced a life-changing epiphany. “I saw fiddlers live,” she remembers, “and it knocked me out. I realized I could be a fiddler.”

Joshua Zucker wrote in the Nov. 23, 2017, San Francisco Chronicle, “With a Grammy Award and two International Bluegrass Music Association female vocalist of the year awards to her credit, as well as being a mainstay with a 15-year tenure at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Lewis has plenty to back that claim. But she wouldn’t be the first to tell anyone that — Lewis is humble, and speaks quietly and succinctly, with her pale blue eyes commanding earnest respect while also betraying an ageless, mischievous spark.”