Bluegrass to hit stage in Sisters

For years Sisters Folk Festival has offered much more than a three-day party in September. The nationally recognized arts and music organization has been bringing top-notch performers to town in the middle of winter in its Winter Concert Series.

This year's series kicks off on Saturday, January 19, with the Claire Lynch Band.

Claire Lynch has long been recognized as a creative force in acoustic music and at the forefront of women who have expanded the bluegrass genre.

She has twice earned The International Bluegrass Music Association's "Female Vocalist of the Year" title, as well as two Grammy nominations.

Most recently, Lynch was awarded one of 50 USA Fellowships from United States Artists (USA).

With only seven awards going to musicians this year, the 2012 USA Fellows represent the most innovative and influential artists in their fields - including cutting-edge thinkers and traditional practitioners from the fields of architecture and design, crafts and traditional arts, dance, literature, media, music, theater arts and visual arts.

"We are thrilled to bring the Claire Lynch Band and have wanted to work with her for several years," said SFF Executive Director Brad Tisdel. "She is a treasure ... she is at the top her game with an all-star cast of tremendous musicians in her band."

By any measure, the Claire Lynch Band is high on the bluegrass world's A-List, with musicians whose accolades include "The MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Champion" (Matt Wingate); two IBMA Bass Player of the Year awards (Mark Schatz) and an unprecedented triple first-place win at the Winfield Kansas National Flatpicking Championship on guitar, fiddle and mandolin (Bryan McDowell).

For over two decades, Lynch has delighted audiences and enjoyed reverent standing ovations for her shows at prestigious music festivals and theaters around the world. She has crafted one of the most instantly identifiable sounds in acoustic music, encompassing classic bluegrass and thoughtful infusions of contemporary folk, country, rock and swing. As a songwriter of inventive and evocative Music Row hits, her songs have been recorded by Kathy Mattea, Patty Loveless, and others, and she has performed as a backing/harmony vocalist with Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Pam

Tillis.

Lynch will be previewing new songs from a forthcoming album on roots label Compass Records.

Tickets are available through Sisters Folk Festival at 541-549-4979, online at http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org, at Paulina Springs Books in Sisters, and at the door. A series package is also available.

The Sisters Folk Festival Winter Concert Series continues on February 15 with Portland Cello Project and on March 20 with a return engagement by singer-songwriter Tom Russell.

All shows are held at Sisters High School Auditorium at 7 p.m.