Laurie Lewis – Trees (Spruce and Maple Music, 2024)
Laurie Lewis is a distinctive, expressive and captivating vocalist, songwriter, and instrumentalist who fearlessly ventures beyond established boundaries in genres known for tradition and authenticity. Lewis has carved out a unique niche in American roots music, exploring bluegrass, old-time, Celtic and folk music.
Lewis’ 24th album, Trees, offers a profound and multifaceted exploration of life, loss, nature, and grief. Despite its deep introspection, the album includes joyful, danceable music infused with a sense of community, avoiding any sense of burden from its themes. The album features seven original songs and several covers, mixing genres naturally, as bluegrass and old-time flow effortlessly from Lewis. Trees was self-produced and released on Lewis’ Spruce and Maple Music label.
The album reflects the emotional challenges in Lewis’ life during its creation. On a positive note, it captures the joy of mountain walks, which she enjoyed during the COVID-19 pandemic when communal music-making was not possible. However, it also addresses her six-month struggle with the loss of her singing voice and the creation of this album without her musical and life partner, Tom Rozum. Since meeting in 1986, Rozum and Lewis had collaborated on every album since 1989’s Love Chooses You.
Lewis explains, “Tom has developed Parkinson’s and can no longer play his instruments. This collection marks a difficult transition in my musical life. Think of it as ‘Music Minus One,’ for all you mandolin players. Of course, Tom continues to be present in the music in many ways, beyond his harmony vocals and his beautiful cover artwork.”
Buy Trees.
Author: Ryan Emmert
