Claire Lynch and her band have performed all over the world, but today, Friday, May 29, they will perform somewhere familiar.
Lynch, a veteran bluegrass performer and her band, The Claire Lynch Band, are just finishing a tour, stopping in Nova Scotia, Canada, before playing on the Plains.
The Huntsville native said she enjoys playing in Alabama, and said it is like a “homecoming” for her.
“Coming home and playing in Alabama is the sweetest thing,” Lynch said. “All of a sudden you realize, ‘I missed this, this is home.’”
Lynch said she was first exposed to bluegrass when she was 19 years old at a concert at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.
he said bluegrass was popular on college campuses at the time, in the late 1970s.
Lynch said her first time on stage was at the University of Alabama, and it was terrifying.
“I was shaking in my boots and I couldn’t sing,” Lynch said. “I probably sounded like a billy goat. Fortunately, there’s no recording.”
Lynch said finding her style was a process, and it was a “wonderful moment” when it came to her.
“I was climbing up the stairs to my apartment, and I stopped in my tracks and said, ‘Oh, that’s my voice,’” Lynch said.
Since finding her voice, Lynch has earned many accolades.
She has been named International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) female vocalist of the year three times and is a member of the Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
She also won IBMA Song of the Year in 2014 for her song, “Dear Sister,” which she cowrote with Louisa Branscomb.
Mathan Holt, founder of Bluegrass on the Plains, said he is excited to bring Lynch to the Plains because she is a big name in bluegrass.
“She’s very popular and people love her,” Holt said. Lynch said her favorite memory was singing with Dolly Parton on a promotional tour.
She said singing harmony on songs such as “Coat of Many Colors” was a special moment for her because of the “heartfelt reality” of those songs.
Despite all of the accolades, Lynch said there are still scary moments, such as performing in storms.
“It can be a little harrowing,” Lynch said. “A friend from Montana said, ‘Ain’t nothing to it but to do it.’”
Lynch said technical difficulties are also distracting, and problems such as feedback and not being able to hear herself are hard because it is difficult to find balance with the rest of her band.
Fortunately, she said, issues such as that don’t often happen anymore.
Lynch said she performs with her dream musicians any time she is on stage.
“My band, they’re my dream,” Lynch said. “They’re fabulous. I don’t need anyone else.”
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