A move from New York to Dixie opened her ears

Monica Orosz

Nov. 5, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A move from New York to Alabama when she was 12 changed Claire Lynch's life in many ways. Not the least of these was her introduction to the bluegrass and country music that became her life's work.

Lynch had plenty of music in Kingston, N.Y., about 150 miles southeast of New York City, but it was more likely to be show tunes and church music, heartily sung with her parents and two sisters, often with the girls pitching in three-part harmony.

When her dad's job with IBM (NYSE:IBM) took them to Huntsville, Ala., so he could work on the Saturn V rocket project, used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs starting in the late 1960s, Lynch got quite an education -- on being a Southerner, on the battles for civil rights and on a new kind of music.

"It was culture shock at first," recalled Lynch by phone from South Carolina, where her parents and one sister now live. She stayed over a few days after a concert date to visit and heads next to Charleston Saturday for a FOOTMAD concert.

"Those were also turbulent times. George Wallace was governor. I think if we had moved to another town besides Huntsville, it would have been even more extreme."

By that time, Lynch already was playing guitar and when her new girlfriends exposed her to country music, her first thought was, "I can do this."

By high school, she was delving into bluegrass, teaching herself to play flatpick guitar.

"Bluegrass is so much playing by ear, anyway," Lynch said. It was about that time that she started writing songs, a habit that grew out of some middle school attempts at poetry.

"In fact, my mother saved some poems I had given to her. She read them to me this week," Lynch said.

"I guess when I was 19, I wrote my first good song, which ended up on a Kathy Mattea record."

The song, "Hills of Alabama," was the start to many musical partnerships. Her songs have been recorded by Patty Loveless, Seldom Scene and Cherryholmes and she's sung with Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, and in fact, her voice has been described as having the pure quality of Harris'.

As a performer, Lynch stayed busy with the Front Porch String Band -- which included her husband, mandolinist Larry Lynch -- and as a songwriter and session vocalist on Nashville's Music Row. She's fresh out with a new CD, "Whatcha Gonna Do," an effort with her band -- Jim Hurst on guitar, Mark Schatz on bass and Jason Thomas on mandolin and fiddle.

The CD is a blend of Lynch's songs and ones she co-wrote with folks she met in Nashville.

"Co-writing is a way of life in Nashville. You learn to recognize someone you can write with," she said.

As for having other artists record her songs, Lynch called it "the highest form of flattery."

"Although, when they get the chord wrong of some really important chord you put there for a purpose, it's a bummer," she added. And then there was the odd request from an Eastern European group to rewrite the lyrics of one of her songs.

"I wrote them back and said, 'No, you may not,' " she said, laughing.

Lynch's husband left the Front Porch String Band in 2000 to pursue an interest in Celtic music.

"He was unhappy on the road; he got tired of it," she said. "He has a day job now and he plays regionally. Our paths cross and uncross. I'm doing a couple of Christmas shows with him."

Contact writer Monica Orosz at monica@dailymail.com or 348-4830.

If you go

--What: Claire Lynch FOOTMAD Concert

--When: 8 p.m. Saturday

--Where: State Culture Center

--Tickets: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students; children under 12 are free

--Info: www.footmad.org

Newstex ID: KRTB-0477-39486165