For nearly four decades, Laurie Lewis has gathered fans and honors for her powerful and emotive voice and her versatile, dynamic songwriting. She is a sought-after recording producer and an equally skilled teacher and mentor. In this appearance at SandBox she will be joined by Sam Reider on accordion. 

“I have to say, it was love at first listen,”says Laurie Lewis, of her first meeting with Sam Reider (at a fiddle camp in Big Sur, California, in 2021). “The sound of the accordion, the instant groove, and the way he wove his music in and out of my songs made me an instant fan girl. And then there are his own compositions on top of all that, and his encyclopedic knowledge of jazz standards!”

Laurie and Sam hit it off, and started collaborating together, as part of their band, Laurie Lewis and Men of Note (with bassist Mark Schatz and fiddler Brandon Godman). Recently, they have begun playing as a duo, collaborating on their own compositions, songs from their shared folk, bluegrass and jazz repertoire, and leaving space for solo pieces as well. Laurie plays guitar and fiddle and Sam plays accordion and piano.

Laurie Lewis, "The First Lady of West Coast Folk and Bluegrass" is a sought-after recording producer and an equally skilled teacher and mentor. And she is an inspiration and a ground-breaker – across genres, across geography and across gender barriers.

Sam Reider is a young pianist, accordionist, composer, and educator from San Francisco, California. His work brings together various streams of American music, from jazz and folk tunes to popular song and contemporary composition. He has appeared as a bandleader and soloist at major festivals and venues around the world and his performances and original compositions have been featured on NPR, PBS and the BBC. Sam’s latest solo piano recording, Petrichor, was recorded at the Sand Box earlier this year.