Laurel Lewis

Laurel Lewis is a morning songbird. Thrumming with the comfort and assurance of an artist at home with herself, the warmth of her deep voice takes center stage in her performance, supported by the quiet confidence of her virtuosic guitar picking and strumming. She joins in the symphony of everyday things and finds the melodies there, picking them out and piecing them together to share with the world.  Laurel Lewis may be young, but she’s been in the game for longer than some musicians twice her age. Her mom always had the radio on, filling her young ears with the powerhouse vocals and songwriting of artists like The Cranberries, Tori Amos, and Gillian Welch. She grew up in the hallowed ground at the center of the jam circle, cocooned by the love, community, and artistry that keeps people enthralled with folk music generation after generation. As she grew into herself, she found herself drawn more and more to rootsy sounds. She cites the influence of her stepfather in particular, noting that it was he who introduced her to songwriting icons like Willie Nelson and Roger Miller. But she needed one puzzle piece from the modern era to truly find her voice. “All that happened going from jazz to Americana was getting a Spotify account,” she says laughing. Something clicked for her. This was also how she first became musically acquainted with Americana icon—and her future mentor—Rodney Crowell. Inspired by his music and songwriting, she enrolled in one of his songwriting camps at 18. This time, it was Crowell who was the one to be inspired. “He emailed me one day after the camp ended,” said Lewis. Soon, she would be sitting on Crowell’s patio, listening to unreleased demos from his personal archives. Despite his towering professional stature, Crowell was mindful to uplift and empower Lewis to trust her own artistic instincts. Together, they would build Lewis’ full-length album, Laurel Lewis.  Released under the name Laurel Lewis (in honor of Lewis’ hometown, nestled in the heart of Laurel County, Kentucky), Laurel Lewis features a collection of songs for the struggles of everyday people. “Most of the album came to life through my own experiences growing up in Appalachia and in the people I’ve met,” she says. Despite its deeply personal storytelling, it is nonetheless broadly relatable. It’s a level of insight and empathy that may be surprising coming from a young person and one that speaks to the challenges Lewis has had to overcome in her life—a childhood lived with unstable parents, an adolescence spent reckoning with the chemistry of her brain, now fledging into the brave new world of independent adulthood. These experiences may have been grueling and unforgiving, but they gave her the gift of healing—of being able to speak to the pain in others and ease their burdens by shining a light on the things that try to hide in the darkness.