Laurie Lewis

That was, like, their festival they went to every year, met up with their friends at, picked and, you know, I got to see incredible acts, and that's like a very bluegrass and beyond type of festival.

So, like, you know, I would see Peter Rowan and David Grisman and Laurie Lewis, and then I would see at night, like, Bonnie Raitt, you know, headlining.

Um, or, like, you know, Little Feat or things like that, like, big rock bands.

Um, but that still had, like, that rootsy component, you know? So, like, that stuff is just deep in my DNA as a songwriter, as an artist.

Which was based on a movie that was based on a book that was based on the pre-Confucian parable.

It's hilarious.

But it's, um, the, the gist of it was what we were, like, writing toward, and we're like, "Okay, how can we make this, like, a naturalist, like, Kate Wolf, Laurie Lewis kind of bluegrass song?" Um, and that's how we ended up with Crooked Tree, and I'm, I, it's one of the proudest songs that I've ever been a part of.

And I think Molly and I were just talking the other day about, like, like, we've thought for a long time that it would make, like, an incredible children's book, especially, especially, like, um, you know, with her alopecia advocacy.

Um, and I feel like, yeah, like Bruce Molsky and Darrell Anger and Brittany Haas were three kind of early big fiddle influences for me as a kid, uh, on the West Coast, like, going to fiddle camps and festivals and stuff.

Um, and, uh, and then I kind of, uh, yeah, when I went to college, I started playing a lot with Laurie Lewis, who I, I had known since I was- A kid, but she really, like, became a, a huge mentor to me in college and getting me to be more comfortable improvising and playing bluegrass music.

So Laurie Lewis has been a big mentor figure, um, and also Alice Gerrard, who, uh, she's the reason I moved to North Carolina.

She's, like, a legendary bluegrass and old time musician.

Um, so I've had, like, these kind of, like, different mentor figures, I would say, throughout my life.

Um, and I think being in college in a completely different environment, like, I started to kind of, like, explore improvising as, like, exploring sounds I liked, rather than being like, "Oh, I need to understand exactly what I'm playing all the time." It was like, "Oh, I like how this sounds.

I'm gonna explore that a little bit and see where it goes." Um, and I think that was really helpful for me.

And then Laurie Lewis, who's an incredible bluegrass musician and songwriter and fiddler and vocalist, um, she hired me to play in her band.