Posted 1/28: Claire Lynch brings party to Skytop by Deborah Medenbach Published: 2:00 AM – 01/28/11 last updated: 12:35 AM – 02/02/11

Claire Lynch could bring her band to Kingston for a chance to visit childhood haunts. After all, she was born here.

Instead, the expected standing-room-only show at the Skytop Steakhouse will showcase the talent that won Lynch the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2010 Female Vocalist of the Year and placed her newest album, “Whatcha Gonna Do?,” at the top of the charts.

A sense of place and family is key to Lynch’s songwriting style, and the inspiration usually arrives as a stray phrase matched with a melody she can build on.

Where: Skytop Steakhouse, 237 Forest Hill Drive, Kingston

Visit: www.skytopsteakhouse.com

“There’s a song I wrote called ‘The Woods of Sipsey’ about Sipsey River (Ala.) here where my Granny lived and died. It’s a very godforsaken backwoods place and she’s a country lady. As she was dying, I wrote it as first-person Granny,” Lynch said.

Her family moved to Alabama when she was 12, and one of her earliest songs, “Hills of Alabama,” was recorded by Kathy Mattea.

“It’s a truck-driving song,” Lynch said. “I was very young when I wrote it, but you have to understand the landscape and family in songs. I never did write a song about Kingston. I was writing more poems back then and gave them as gifts to my family.”

She has no family remaining in the Kingston area, but remembers childhood walks in the woods between Lucas Avenue and Miller’s Lane, where neighborhood kids built tree forts.

“We’d all go to Forsyth Park. It was my favorite place to meet my friends and play. There was a place called Duck Pond, where we used to ice skate in the winter,” Lynch said. “My father would make a little campfire on the banks so we could stay warm and we’d skate. Those are some of my fondest memories with my dad.”

After moving to Alabama, Lynch formed the Front Porch String Band at age 19 and recorded several well-received albums. She spent time as a session vocalist in the 1980s, singing backup on albums by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. Her band returned to recording in the 1990s, bringing out Grammy-nominated albums “Moonlighter” and “Silver and Gold.” an album of Lynch’s original tunes, “Love Light,” was the group’s last recording together.

In 2004, she formed the Claire Lynch Band, recorded three top-selling albums for Rounder Records and began touring. the band now consists of Matthew Wingate on guitar, mandolin and vocals; top bass player mark Schatz, whom many listeners know from his recordings with Nickel Creek, Bela Fleck and Jerry Douglas; and Jason Thomas on mandolin, fiddle and vocals. Thomas recorded three albums with Kane’s River.

Lynch keeps the same band for touring and recording.

“This last album I did called ‘Whatcha Gonna Do?’ was strictly band members playing multiple instruments,” Lynch said. “We had a guest percussionist come in to play some hand drums, and Jesse Winchester sang a duet with me. Love him!”

There’s one important homecoming element only nature can provide, but will make Lynch’s visit complete.

“I hope there’s snow. I want to smell the snow!”

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<a href="http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110128/ENTERTAIN/101280347/-1/SITEMAPtag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110128/ENTERTAIN/101280347/-1/SITEMAPFri, 28 Jan 2011 07:42:02 GMT 00:00″>Bluegrass star returns home to Kingston