Claire Lynch

With a high-pitched voice that's been compared to <a href="spotify:artist:5CAiy5rDr3LaSoGtJOq6A0">Nanci Griffith</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5J6L7N6B4nI1M5cwa29mQG">Alison Krauss</a>, Claire Lynch has successfully fused a background in popular music and a love of bluegrass. Born in Kingston, New York, Lynch moved with her family to Hazel Green, Alabama at the age of 12. Inspired by the pop songs of <a href="spotify:artist:5hW4L92KnC6dX9t7tYM4Ve">Joni Mitchell</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a>, Lynch sang as a youngster in an informal trio with her sisters, but it was as the singer for the bluegrass outfit <a href="spotify:artist:6G1MQnGonfexqzUYvE8B1N">the Front Porch String Band</a> that finally brought Lynch a wider audience. <a href="spotify:artist:6G1MQnGonfexqzUYvE8B1N">The Front Porch String Band</a> became one of the hardest-working groups in Alabama. Their self-produced debut album, Smilin' at You, released in 1977, was followed by Country Rain later the same year. In 1981, <a href="spotify:artist:6G1MQnGonfexqzUYvE8B1N">the Front Porch String Band</a> released a self-titled, nationally distributed album on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rebel%22">Rebel</a>, while Claire released her solo debut, Breakin' It, on the smaller <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ambush%22">Ambush</a> label.

Claire and her then-husband, Larry Lynch, disbanded <a href="spotify:artist:6G1MQnGonfexqzUYvE8B1N">the Front Porch String Band</a> in 1982. Claire's songs continued to make the rounds, however, and were soon covered by <a href="spotify:artist:6HiEDmsb2uPBfdWUS8GvWn">Stephanie Davis</a> ("Moonlighter"), <a href="spotify:artist:6SFUC6ORDCIBqPssCBpeHT">Patty Loveless</a> ("Some Morning Soon"), and <a href="spotify:artist:7ndzHjxbErIwvwnEUewMWe">Kathy Mattea</a> ("Hills of Alabam'"), and Lynch was signed by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Polygram%22">Polygram</a> to a staff writing contract. <a href="spotify:artist:6G1MQnGonfexqzUYvE8B1N">The Front Porch String Band</a> came back together in a revamped version in 1990, and the following year the band released its comeback album, Lines & Traces. Claire Lynch's second solo album, Friends for a Lifetime, released in 1993 and reissued in 1995, was a celebration of gospel music. Her 1995 album, Moonlighter, was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Bluegrass Album. Silver and Gold was released in 1997, Lovelight followed in the spring of 2000, and Out in the Country was issued a year later.

She formed her own <a href="spotify:artist:2DRNg4SA1jQn4DRGAH0f3U">Claire Lynch Band</a> in 2005, and in March of 2006, after a six-year hiatus, she released New Day on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rounder+Records%22">Rounder Records</a>, following it up three years later in 2009 with a second <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rounder%22">Rounder</a> release, Whatcha Gonna Do. In January 2013, after a long stint with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rounder%22">Rounder</a>, Lynch signed a recording deal with Nashville label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Compass+Records%22">Compass Records</a>, releasing the ninth solo recording of her career, Dear Sister, on the imprint later that same year. Recording as <a href="spotify:artist:2DRNg4SA1jQn4DRGAH0f3U">the Claire Lynch Band</a>, she and her group released their first Christmas LP in 2015, simply titled Holiday! For her next project, Lynch enlisted producer <a href="spotify:artist:01ts5a7R3WkeE2oKIouXEK">Alison Brown</a> to helm North by South, an album of cover songs exclusively by Canadian writers. Released in 2016, the album featured performances from <a href="spotify:artist:4YgACLaoEjPl4kVZ5WmBN9">Jerry Douglas</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2ka8z2lwkcp13fG8Wyv3xU">Béla Fleck</a>, among others, on songs by <a href="spotify:artist:2wXBWJhbm1gfEVjyEEuhDH">Ron Sexsmith</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:23rleGXVOVVgTk3xgtmfE4">Gordon Lightfoot</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5iyN1b5A8GnzdVwmN7d79S">Lynn Miles</a>, and many more. ~ Craig Harris & Steve Leggett, Rovi