Laurie Alexis Lewis[1] (born September 28, 1950) is an American bluegrass singer, musician, and songwriter.

[3]The bluegrass scene of Northern California was a powerful mix of the region's historic progressivism and ardent devotion to musical tradition.

When the Phantoms broke up she co-founded the Good Ol' Persons, an all-female bluegrass band with Kathy Kallick.

In 1979 she founded the Grant Street String Band, also including Beth Weil, Tom Bekeny, Greg Townsend, and Steve Krouse, in which her own songwriting came to the forefront.

-Sam Bush (Newgrass Revival founder and mandolin player) "To ask how Laurie Lewis’s music is relevant in this day and age, in the broader folk, Americana, and bluegrass scenes as a whole, would be similar to asking how a brick in a home’s foundation is relevant to its structure.

-Justin Hiltner, Bluegrass Situation[3]Lewis, accompanied by Tom Rozum, has appeared at the Grand Ole Opry and several times with Garrison Keillor on A Prairie Home Companion.

She was the program director for a music camp on the Oregon Coast called Bluegrass at the Beach which she has done with Tom Rozum, from 1992 until 2005.

She has been invited to accompany many other artists, including Kato Sanden, Linda Ronstadt, and Ralph Stanley.

Besides producing her own CDs, Lewis's skill in the recording studio has resulted in her being asked to produce recordings for a number of other artists, including Scott Nygaard, Erica Wheeler, The T Sisters, Alice Gerrard, American Nomad, Melody Walker and Jacob Groopman, Ray Bierl, and Diedre McCalla.

Lewis has toured widely in many parts of the world, including most European countries, China, and Japan.

She spreads her talent over several genres - bluegrass, folk, country - and with the recognition she has within all those fields, I would certainly say she's one of the top five female artists of the last 30 years.