Barbara Lamb is a fiddler, singer, and songwriter from Seattle. She recorded one of the first bluegrass instrumental albums led by women in 1975, co-founded the western swing band Ranch Romance in the 1980s, and held the fiddle chair in Asleep at the Wheel from 1993 to 1995. She has released five solo albums since 1993 and teaches at fiddle camps.
Why Lamb matters
Lamb plays bluegrass fiddle and western swing fiddle with equal ease, and she has spent her career moving between them. She learned from a contest champion, then took that clean tone into a cowgirl band, a Texas swing band, and her own quirky records. For a jammer who wants to play both Sally Goodin and Satin Doll, her records show how the two styles share one bow.
Life and career
Lamb was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Her main fiddle teacher was Vivian Williams, the Seattle fiddler who won national titles and ran the Voyager Recordings label with her husband Phil. In 1975 Lamb and Williams released Twin Sisters on Voyager with the band Tall Timber. Williams played harmony to Lamb’s lead. The album was one of the earliest instrumental bluegrass records made by women.
In the 1980s Lamb co-founded Ranch Romance in Seattle with singer Jo Miller. The band mixed western swing, bluegrass, and yodeling cowgirl songs. Its first album, Western Dream, came out in 1989. The band opened about twenty shows for k.d. lang on her Absolute Torch and Twang tour. Lamb left before the band’s second album to start a solo career.
She moved to Nashville in the early 1990s. Within months she joined Asleep at the Wheel, taking over the fiddle chair after the band’s 1993 Bob Wills tribute album. She played on The Wheel Keeps on Rollin’ (1995) and left after that record. Her first solo album, Fiddle Fatale, came out on Sugar Hill in 1993 with Tim O’Brien producing and Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, and Tony Trischka in the band. Tonight I Feel Like Texas followed on Sugar Hill in 1996. She released Blue on Dakota in 2000, Fiddle Piggy in 2003, and Twisty Girl in 2009.
Lamb has toured on State Department trips to Russia and has played in Papua New Guinea, Borneo, China, and Vanuatu. She has taught at NashCamp in Nashville.
Playing style
Lamb’s core sound is clean contest-style bluegrass fiddle. The tone is smooth and the notes are even, a mark of Vivian Williams’s teaching. Her track list on Fiddle Fatale shows the range: Sally Goodin, Katy Hill, and Herman’s Hornpipe sit beside Panhandle Rag and a jazz tune, So What.
Her swing side comes from Texas swing and Stéphane Grappelli. She writes tunes in a Grappelli-flavored style and sings on her records. On Twisty Girl she moved further out, adding odd meters and looping, where she layers fiddle parts on top of each other. That mix of old-time swing and studio play is what makes her recognizable.
Influences and legacy
Vivian Williams taught her and recorded with her. Through Williams she connects to the Pacific Northwest contest scene that produced Mark O’Connor and hosted Benny Thomasson in his last years. Her swing playing draws on Stéphane Grappelli and the Texas swing tradition of Bob Wills, whose songbook she played every night in Asleep at the Wheel.
She recorded with Tim O’Brien, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Tony Trischka, and Scott Vestal. As a camp teacher she has passed on her approach to a generation of adult learners.
Signature tunes and songs
Sally Goodin Panhandle Rag Herman’s Hornpipe Bill Cheatham Say Old Man, Can You Play the Fiddle? Road to Silverton.
Essential recordings
Twin Sisters, with Vivian Williams and Tall Timber (Voyager, 1975) Western Dream, Ranch Romance (1989) Fiddle Fatale (Sugar Hill, 1993) Tonight I Feel Like Texas (Sugar Hill, 1996) Twisty Girl (2009)
Watch and listen
Lamb plays a fiddle medley at a library concert. Watch how she moves between bluegrass and swing bowing.
Lamb and banjo player Tony Trischka play Forked Deer. Listen for the clean, even notes in the fast passages.
What to learn from Lamb
Learn Sally Goodin from Fiddle Fatale. It is the first track and it shows how a contest tune works inside a bluegrass band. The technique to steal is her swing shuffle. Take one bluegrass tune you already know and play it with a swing feel, long-short instead of even eighth notes. Then play Satin Doll or another swing tune with straight bluegrass bowing. Once you can flip between the two feels on purpose, you can sit in with a swing band or a bluegrass band without changing fiddles.
Sources
Bio, Barbara Lamb Vivian Tomlinson Williams, Wikipedia Ranch Romance (band), Wikipedia List of Asleep at the Wheel members, Wikipedia Vivian Williams and Barbara Lamb with Tall Timber, Twin Sisters, Discogs Barbara Lamb, Fiddle Fatale, Discogs Barbara Lamb, Tonight I Feel Like Texas, Discogs Barbara Lamb, Discogs Barbara Lamb, Twisty Girl, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more. Lamb’s swing side connects her to Bob Wills and Johnny Gimble. Mark O’Connor came out of the same Seattle-area contest scene. Jana Jae is another woman who took contest fiddle into a country show band.