Friends For a Lifetime (Rounder, 1998)
Claire Lynch
Reviewed by Arsenio Orteza
Not that "Friends..." itself is narrow. The variety in sources (two hymns, four she wrote or co-wrote, six she didn't), topics (songs to her parents and her infant, Biblical narratives), and sidemen (Jerry Brown, Shelton Feazell, and less-famous but equally accomplished pickers and grinners) broadens the album in small but important ways.
Best of all, Lynch knows how to play the bitter off against the sweet. Bysandwiching "My Name Is Judas" between the love song to her infant and a hymn and singing all three in a voice that's equal parts Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt, she gets more out of all three than most bluegrassers would. And the sweet-bitter interplay of voice, fiddle, and banjo does her vision justice.
CDs by Claire Lynch




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