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Lydia sings, writes songs, plays Fiddle, Banjo, Guitar, acco
Lydia Garrison is a passionate singer and instrumentalist who plays her original songs on fiddle, banjo, guitar, and accordion.
Lydia grew up around Cajun and Zydeco music and dance, Old Time music, and the original music of her musical heroes and mentors around Ithaca, NY, (influenced by Old Time music and Roots Rock). She studied violin for a year as a kid, then played triangle and fiddle with members of her mother’s Cajun band. She learned Old Time fiddle and banjo as a young teen and began writing songs then as well. Lydia's band won "Best up and coming band" at the Mt. Airy Fiddlers Convention in 1999, and Lydia won the Youth Banjo Contest at the Appalachian Stringband Music Festival (AKA Clifftop) in 1999. On a school trip to the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, Lydia befriended songwriter “Bear” Fox, and was influenced by Bear’s music from then on.
Growing up attending the local FingerLakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance, Lydia was mesmerized by Malian (West African) music she heard, which inspired her to do a musical study abroad in college. She spent 4 months in Bamako, Mali, West Africa studying an ancestor of the banjo, the Jeli Ngoni.
She has four recordings to date, The Darling Clementines “Eddie Would Go” (1999), Turtle Island Dream (2002), The TurtleDuhks “True Lover” (on Sugar Hill Records) (2007), and Home Remedy (2018). She can also be heard on Bear Fox’s album “Diamond” (2013).
She has toured internationally with The TurtleDuhks, and in the U.S. with Home Remedy, The Makers, Bear Fox and Kevin Wimmer & Blue Eagle Zydeco.
She has taught at Black Pot Camp and Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camp.
Lydia's first fiddler's convention (Mt. Airy, NC) in '98 with her mother Gay Garrison on the right.
Lydia’s first band The Darling Clementines busking on the Ithaca Commons in ’98 or ’99.
Lydia's Music
The Makers
The Makers are Lydia Garrison and Nate Silas Richardson. A shared admiration of and experience with the music of Mali brought them together, and a potent creative chemistry emerged between them. The result is an intricate weave of melody and rhythm that escapes classification, and goes straight for your heart. Their eclectic songs, highlighting Lydia's songwriting, explore the triumphs and tragedies along life’s beautiful & bumpy road.
Nate is a Berklee College of Music graduate, and a musical force in the styles of African music, Reggae, and Jazz, as well as a capable musician and singer in many veins - as needed in his business at Rep Studio - a recording studio in Ithaca, NY - where he accompanies musicians in various styles. In the Makers, Nate plays acoustic and electric guitar and sings.
[Pictured in the small window-to-the-past on Lydia’s banjo is her maternal great-great-great grandfather, pride of the family, William Lloyd Garrison, a noted abolitionist and feminist]
Home Remedy
Home Remedy is Lydia Garrison & Rosie Newton. They are a powerhouse duo fusing Old Time, Americana songwriter, and Cajun and Zydeco flavors. They are both multi-instrumentalists and singers, and Lydia is the main songwriter for the group. They're tight, they're potent, they're deep, they're joyful! They're sisters in music.
Rosie & Lydia share an upbringing steeped in Old Time, Cajun and Zydeco music, as well as regional New York state thriving local music culture.
In Home Remedy, Lydia and Rosie play fiddles, accordions, guitars, banjo and some percussion.
Kevin Wimmer & Blue Eagle Zydeco
Blue Eagle Zydeco is a full-on pumping hot dance band, bringing the sounds of South Louisiana clubs to the dance floors of the Northeast and beyond!
Lydia plays scrubboard, sings harmony and plays fiddle with Blue Eagle. Squeezing the box is Kevin Wimmer, who is best known as one of Louisiana’s foremost Cajun-style fiddlers. Having learned from Cajun master Dewey Balfa, Kevin was a founding member of Balfa Toujours and Racines (with whom he received a Grammy nomination) and a member of The Red Stick Ramblers and Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys. Kevin’s bluesy and soulful style of fiddling has lead him to sit in with just about every Zydeco great playing today. Now based in the Fingerlakes region of New York, Kevin has gathered top area musicians Lydia Garrison, Harry Aceto and Russ Sternglass in the formation of his hot new band.
Bear Fox
Lydia met Theresa "Bear" Fox in 2001 when she visited the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation on a high school cultural exchange and community service trip. They exchanged tapes of their respective "Girl Bands" -- Lydia's "Darling Clementines" and Bear's "Kontiwennahawi" (Carriers of the Words). They stayed in touch as musical friends, Bear sending Lydia her recordings as they came out. When Lydia got to record with members of Juno award winning band "The Duhks", Bear's songs were deep in Lydia's heart and soul from all the years singing along with them in the car, and she asked Bear if she could record one of her favorites, "Sky World". Bear said yes, and sang and played on the song.
Bear later invited Lydia to sing and play on her album "Diamond."
Bear and Lydia perform together periodically. Their performances highlight Bear's singing & songwriting, and Lydia's singing and instrumental accompaniment.
Bear's music has shaped Lydia both musically and ideologically, and it's always a special time when they get to play together.
The TurtleDuhks
The TurtleDuhks are Lydia Garrison, Leonard Podolak, and Jordan McConnell - the latter two of the world-traveled "Duhks" trad-soul-fusion quintet of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The TurtleDuhks are joyous Trad-music-playing teenagers at heart, and throw it down with everything they've got. They play Old Time tunes, the occasional Irish tune, traditional songs, and original songs by the band and their friends and influences. Jordan comes from the Irish music tradition (playing guitar, whistle, and Uilleann pipes), Lydia from the Old Time (fiddle, banjo, guitar), and Leonard from both (banjo), and they all sing.
The TurtleDuhks released their album "True Lover" in 2007 on Sugar Hill Records.
The TurtleDuhks toured in the US and internationally, and still perform occasionally.
Old Time Fiddle, Banjo & Guitar Lessons
Lydia has been teaching fiddle and banjo since she was 15. Most recently she's taught at BlackPot Camp in Eunice, Louisiana, and Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camp in Olivebridge, NY.
She learned fiddle and banjo from Richie Stearns, Jed Greenberg, and was strongly influenced by other great players around the Ithaca and Trumansburg, NY area including Jeb Puryear, Tara Nevins, Jim Miller, the Heartbeats Rhythm Quartet, Bubba George String Band, the Highwoods String Band & The Horseflies.
She's traveled to many fiddle conventions and festivals over the years to listen, learn and play with musicians from other areas of the US and the world. Playing music is a great way to connect with people and have fun, and she enjoys sharing the passion with students.
She learned music by ear and teaches it this way as well.