The Michigan-bred singer-guitarist just released an ambitious bluegrass album, ahead of the Ionia Freak Fair. Learn more and listen to more Michigan music in this week’s radio show podcast.
In the Studio: Lindsay Lou enlisted ‘a lot of amazing pickers and women in the scene’ for the new album. (Photo/Sawyer Gieseke)
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For more than 18 years, Lindsay Lou has lent her dazzling vocals to Michigan-bred bluegrass stylings – first as a member of Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys and later as a solo artist who’s collaborated with Nashville’s music elites.
But the Michigan native has long rued the way female pioneers of the bluegrass scene have been overlooked, even as she celebrates the recent high-profile contributions made by a new generation of uber-talented women embracing the genre.
“You can’t help but notice over the years how often you’re the only woman in the room, and how few women or almost no women are visible or counted among the original, the first generation pioneers of this music and the second generation pioneers of this music — the people that we know and love and have a great deal to be grateful for in moving this music along and bringing it to the world,” the singer-guitarist told Local Spins, just days after releasing her star-studded new studio album, “Bluegrass Women.”
Bringing Classic Songs to Life: Brittany Haas, Lindsay Lou and Sarah Jarosz in studio. (Photo/Sawyer Gieseke)
“There’s a great shift happening now in my generation. … There’s a lot of women who paved the way for this to happen. … As a woman who can’t help but notice the lack of representation of women in our history, it just felt like a really, really cool thing to see where women’s place in the music has always been, and get to feature a lot of these amazing pickers and women in the scene today to bring all the songs to life.”
Many much-beloved, oft-played bluegrass songs were written by women, from Ralph Stanley’s wife to Ricky Skaggs’ mother to groundbreaking musicians and writers such as Ola Belle Reed, Elizabeth Cotton and Hazel Dickens.
Songs by all of them and more unfurl on “Bluegrass Women,” an impressive traditional bluegrass album featuring guest contributions from the contemporary scene’s most respected and lauded female musicians, including Sierra Hull, Molly Tuttle, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz, Laurie Lewis and more.
Recorded in March and co-produced by Lindsay Lou and Shani Gandhi, the 10-song collection released earlier this month includes time-honored classics such as “Like a River,” “I Only Exist,” “Frieight Train” and “High on a Mountain.” The recording process also was chronicled for a four-part docuseries; view Episode 1 here.
VIDEO: “Bluegrass Women,” Episode 1
PLAYING THE IONIA FREAK FAIR, TOURING MICHIGAN THIS FALL
“It wasn’t hard to convince anybody. They’re all friends and they’ve all had the experience of being the only woman in the room,” Lindsay Lou said of the guest stars she enlisted.
“It just feels good to honor women in this music and play these songs that we love with friends. Everybody on the record knows each other and has crossed paths and played with each other and respects each other and admires each other.”
Fans will hear some of those iconic songs when Lindsay Lou plays Billy Strings’ much-ballyhooed Ionia Freak Fair on the opening day of the sold-out, two-day festival that’s expected to draw more than 27,000 people to the Ionia County Fairgrounds, not far from where the powerhouse bluegrass guitarist grew up. (Scroll down to view the complete festival schedule below.)
Lindsay Lou first met Billy Strings at a show during the Traverse City Film Festival more than 10 years ago and they’ve been friends ever since.
“Billy is just such a special person in that he not only plays the way that he does at such a level, with such clarity and cleanness and speed and creativity, but he also has this really soulful purpose behind everything that he does,” she said.
“To see the rest of the world really take notice and to see his success has been really cool. And he’s got a lot of power because of that. So it’s cool that he has brought together all of his friends and all of us who have been in that boat at the right place at the right time on Billy’s path. We were a part of his story and a part of his journey. So now, we all get together and have one big friend reunion and play some music for the hometown folks.”
The New Album: ‘Bluegrass Women’
Lindsay Lou will perform with her Honeymoon Trio at the Ionia Freak Fair, then return to Michigan for a fall tour that will feature “a five-piece band of bluegrass pickers, of women who play bluegrass, who can play the ‘Bluegrass Women’ project with me for all my people in Michigan.”
That mini-tour kicks of Oct. 1 with a concert at Traverse City’s Milliken Auditorium, followed by an appearance at The Acorn in Three Oaks on Oct. 2, The Big Room in Grand Rapids on Oct. 3 and The Ark in Ann Arbor on Oct. 4. Get tickets and details online at lindsayloumusic.com/tour-dates.
The Michigan tour is an annual fall rite that coincides with her father’s birthday and reflects Lindsay Lou’s passion for her home state and the inspiration that’s driven her music.
“It’s unavoidable and undeniable. I mean, we have myself and Greensky Bluegrass and Billy Strings and May Erlewine and Rachael Davis and The Crane Wives. Michigan is such a special place being surrounded by the lakes. It’s sort of insular and so vibrant. The culture and the music culture is so, so vibrant and special,” she insisted.
“I’ve worked with different people in the music industry, booking agents who book bands from all over the place, who have affirmed that Michigan is a special and unique place. So it’s not all that surprising the special music that comes out of it. I mean it’s home. Home is where the heart is, man. You can’t forget that.”
Listen to the complete interview, including Lindsay Lou’s experiences with sexism in the music industry, in this week’s edition of the Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase which spotlighted two tracks from “Bluegrass Women” – “Like a River” and “Freight Train” — as well as new music by a passel of Michigan artists: Roosevelt Diggs, The Rockit King, The Blue Herons, May Erlewine, Chris DuPont, Michigan Music Resistance (Big Sky Company), Black Milk, Dave Menzo and The Rebel Eves. Check out the radio show podcast below.
PODCAST: Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase (8/21/26)
IONIA FREAK FAIR 2026: THE SCHEDULE
VIDEO: “Bluegrass Women” (Trailer)
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