The Clare Lynch Band - Country and Bluegrass March 25, 2011

Grammy nominee and IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year Claire Lynch has long been at the forefront of women pushing bluegrass boundaries. Her soulful songs have been recorded by Patty Loveless and Kathy Mattea and others. This stellar ensemble delivers a personable, high energy performance including tender country ballads, hard driving bluegrass, swing, and even some Southern Appalachian clog dancing.

"...one of my very favorite singers in all of acoustic, country and bluegrass music-she is a jewel." -Mary Chapin Carpenter


By any measure, The Claire Lynch Band is high on the bluegrass world’s A-List, with musicians
whose accolades include International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Female Vocalist of the
Year and two Grammy nominations for Best Bluegrass Album (Claire); Canadian Open Mandolin
Championship and Florida State Championship on both fiddle and mandolin (Jason Thomas); the
MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Champion (Matt Wingate); and two IBMA Bass Player of the Year
awards (Mark Schatz).

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. The band is grounded by bassist Mark Schatz’s
deft touch and masterful instinct for groove. 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.

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.

Listen: www.myspace.com/clairelynch and www.clairelynch.com

Location: Chestnut Avenue Center for the Arts - Performance Hall
Contact: Our Office at 715-389-8999 or e-mail [email protected] e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
For tickets, please contact our office or Roman Stauber (715) 305-6520