REVIEWS and ARTICLES
"Sometimes bluegrass star Claire Lynch will be singing her lovely, mandolin-dappled ballad "Dear Sister" onstage and looking out into the audience she'll see people wiping tears from their eyes. "That's the most beautiful singing experience I can have," Lynch says. She's walking down a street in Toronto when reached for this phone interview.." - Wake
OpEd: 10 Best Female Angelic Voices of Our Time
The following ten female vocalists are some of the best in the music business, and they all have one thing in common: they possess the voice of an angel...
"Claire Lynch, who headlines this weekend’s Winter Village Bluegrass Festival, has been on a roll lately. Last year, she was named IBMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year for the second time, following a similar honor in 2010. She also signed with Compass Records and released a stellar new album “Dear Sister.” And she’s gearing up for two more projects: a swing album and a Christmas album. Lynch’s ninth album, “Dear Sister” came after a long, drawn-out process of shopping for a label after being with Rounder Records for 18 years. “During that period of time, we had a chance to really arrange the songs the way we wanted them, and we played them out quite a bit before the album came out.” Lynch said from her home in Nashville last week." - Jim Catalano
Interview with Claire Lynch: IBMA 'Female Vocalist of the Year:
"Veteran bluegrass singer-songwriter Claire Lynch accepted her third career win for the coveted International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) "Female Vocalist of the Year" award on September 26, 2013.
On her most recent win, Lynch remarked, "It was a lot of fun and really exciting. I actually had a funny feeling it was going to happen this time. It was extremely gratifying and for some reason, it wasn't like a big, huge surprise. To have this kind of this honor and to be recognized for this long is a really beautiful thing and sort of an affirmation of my work."
Presently, she is a part of the Compass Records label roster..."
- Markos Papadatos
"The release of Lynch’s tenth disc, Dear Sister, has forever moved the bluegrass goalposts, given her ability to project intensity and gentleness, vulnerability and strength and all points in-between. The road’s not been easy – career detours and family-rearing stopovers resulted in hard-earned changes in her personal tune. But she’s proven herself 100% committed to what she’s doing, surrounding herself with a phenomenal band who manage to exceed her inflexible expectations. It’s the combination of Claire’s high, lonesome sound and this band of virtuosic musicians who prove the secret ingredient behind their powerful sound. Award-winning bassist-clawhammer banjo player-dancer-percussionist Mark Schatz joins mandolinist-guitarist Matt Wingate and fiddler and player-of-all-stringed things, Bryan McDowell. Acoustic guitars and bass mesh with fiddle, mandolin, banjo and their supportive harmonies – never fighting for position and always working under Lynch’s one-of-a-kind vocal aeronautics. There’s never an unnecessary break in the action, unless intentional." - Eric Thom
"Her latest album with her all-star band, titled Dear Sister, finds her on the mellower side of newgrass, more or less. As usual, the picking is strong (and often spectacular), lively conversations abounding between guitarist/mandolinist Matt Wingate, Bryan McDowell (on fiddle, mando and guitar) and banjo player Mark Schatz Many of the tunes are just flat-out gorgeous, to match the vocals. Lynch’s voice is sort of a blend of vintage Dolly Parton and Amy Allison, with a similar nuance and unexpected power when she wants to drive a lyric home." - Delarue
"It’s clear from the first couple of bars... this music is real and really good! Lynch’s voice has the sweet high country twang of a teen singing on the porch, but also a deeper womanly tone to tell her stories and tug the heart. There are similarities to Dolly Parton, some in the timbre of her voice, a lot in the way she makes you believe as she sings the heck out of a song. Aside from Lynch’s singing, one is struck by the almost symphonic quality to the down-home instrumentation of the arrangements. This band has a lot going on among the fiddles, mandolins, guitars, upright bass and banjos—not just brilliant picking, but sophisticated, seemingly spontaneous composition. Compass cofounder Garry West surely gets kudos for getting the most out of the Claire Lynch band and guests (Alison Brown, Rob Ickes, Tim O’Brien and others) and making sure they sound great on the album." - Michael Devlin
"...If the band’s Compass debut after a long run with Rounder Records is anything close to the live performances – and there’s no reason with this band and that voice that it shouldn’t be – a lot of folks are going to be excited about Dear Sister." - David Morris
"Even though Claire Lynch has both feet firmly planted in the genre she’s always called home, she also likes a bit of polished country balladry and jazzy, down-home pop in her bluegrass. And her songs have opened doors well outside the contemporary bluegrass world, from big-name country cuts to the USA Fellowship she was awarded late last year.
Lynch has a sanguine perspective on the surprises she’s met with over the course of her career, along with news about what 2013 holds."
- Jewly Hight
Article by Mark Jordan