‘Projects Like This Haven’t Been Done in Bluegrass’: Lindsay Lou Leads All-Star New Album Celebrating the Women Songwriters Who Shaped the Genre
Alongside Lou, the album features more bluegrass luminaries including Alison Brown, Molly Tuttle and Sierra Hull.
Vocalist and guitarist Lindsay Lou has been playing bluegrass songs like Ralph Stanley's "I Only Exist" and Ricky Skaggs' "All I Ever Loved Was You" in jam sessions for years. However, she recently discovered that many of these popular songs were penned by women. Lou's new album, Bluegrass Women, released on Aug. 14, aims to shine a spotlight on these often-overlooked female songwriters of the genre.
The album features a roster of today's top women bluegrass stars, including Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Aoife O'Donovan, Alison Brown, Sarah Jarosz, AJ Lee, Gena Britt, Laurie Lewis, and more. Lou co-produced the album with Shani Gandhi. The timing of the project was significant, as she noticed an increase in the suppression of women's representation in various sectors during a politically charged climate.
Bluegrass Women is modeled after previous projects that paid homage to classic songs, but it uniquely focuses on the work of women songwriters. For example, the album includes "All I Ever Loved Was You," originally written by Dorothy Skaggs, as well as songs by Rosa Lee Watson and Jimmie Stanley's wife Joyce Morris. Lou's personal connection to the songs became even more profound when she learned they were written from a woman's perspective, often dealing with themes of loss that resonated with her as a new mother.
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