Jim Lauderdale (jimlauderdale.com) is a multi-talented performer and songwriter, with successes in both country and bluegrass music. His roots stem from the Carolinas, yet his career has taken him all over the United States and abroad, making him an international recording artist with an ever-growing fan base. Jim won “Artist of the Year” and “Song of the Year” at the first “Honors and Awards Show” held by the Americana Music Association in 2002. Subsequently, he has hosted this same show for the last seven years.

He is among Nashville’s “A” list of songwriters, with songs recorded by artists such as Patty Loveless, George Jones, The Dixie Chicks, Solomon Burke, Mark Chesnutt, Dave Edmunds, John Mayall, Kathy Mattea, Lee Ann Womack, Gary Allan, Blake Shelton, Vince Gill and George Strait. He also contributed several songs to the successful soundtrack of the George Strait film Pure Country. Not content to just write hits for the stars, he’s toured with the likes of Lucinda Williams, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rhonda Vincent and Elvis Costello, among others.

Jim’s musical influences include the legendary Dr. Ralph Stanley and George Jones. These influences and his unique sense of melody and lyric help forge a sound that is truly his own. He is a two-time Grammy winner, winning his first in 2002 with Dr. Ralph Stanley for Lost in the Lonesome Pines (Dualtone). His next one came for his second “solo” bluegrass album, The Bluegrass Diaries (Yep Roc 2007) at the 50th Grammy Awards! His first CD with Dr. Stanley, I Feel Like Singing Today (Dualtone/Rebel 1999), received a Grammy nomination as did his first solo bluegrass CD titled Bluegrass (Yep Roc) from 2006. His current release, Patchwork River (his second collaboration with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter), is currently on the Americana radio charts.

As a performer his credits include production, writing and collaborating on albums such as Wait ‘Til Spring (SkyCrunch/Dualtone 2003) with Donna the Buffalo and Headed for the Hills (Dualtone 2004), his first total project with Robert Hunter. The remainder of Jim’s 18 albums include: Planet of Love (Reprise 1991), Pretty Close to the Truth (Atlantic 1994), Every Second Counts (Atlantic 1995), Persimmons (Upstart 1998), Whisper (BNA 1998), Onward Through It All (RCA 1999), The Other Sessions (Dualtone 2001), The Hummingbirds (Dualtone 2002), Bluegrass (Yep Roc 2006), Country Super Hits, Volume 1 (Yep Roc 2006), Honey Songs (Yep Roc 2008), Could We Get Any Closer? (SkyCrunch 2009) and Patchwork River (Thirty Tigers 2010).

“It’s been a particularly great period for me,” says Lauderdale. “Thanks to the records – I’m performing more and more, which I love. And I love that I can play the Opry one weekend, a jam-band festival the next and then a bluegrass festival the following week. That’s really inspiring to me and I think there’s a real thread there. The roots are the same for all of them and that’s the music I’m interested in.”