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Lydia sings, writes songs and plays Fiddle, Banjo & Guitar
Lydia was bitten by the music bug as a kid. Her mother Gay Garrison had a passion for Cajun and Zydeco music and dance which took the family to many regional music festivals, and as far as Louisiana. Lydia started learning violin at school at age 8, but after three months when the students had to learn to read music, it stopped being fun and Lydia promptly quit with no regrets. This was not the feel of the music she loved...
Lydia sang along to every tape Gay introduced to the family car stereo, and soon became the self-designated DJ, blasting Donna the Buffalo, Keith Frank, Emmy Lou Harris, and CJ Chenier among many others, on jaunts of any length in the car. The family was yielding, even as the volume and repetition increased....
After starting out on the Cajun triangle to sit in with Gay's Cajun band, Lydia began learning Old Time banjo and fiddle with Richie Stearns, and Cajun fiddle with Susi Mills. In the summer of '98 Lydia studied Cajun fiddle at the Augusta Heritage Center music camp, and Gay took the Zydeco accordion class. It was on this trip that Gay taught Lydia the guitar so she could back up Gay's fledgling Zydeco accordion playing. The guitar got Lydia started with writing songs, which were unknowingly influenced by The Heartbeats, Donna the Buffalo, Richie & Jennie Stearns, Johnny Cash and many others. Banjo teacher Richie Stearns got Lydia’s first band together, the Darling Clementines, who won “Best Up and Coming Band” at the Mt. Airy Fiddlers’ Convention in 1999. Also that year, Lydia won the youth Old Time banjo competition at the Appalachian Stringband Music Festival (“Clifftop”).
In college, Lydia was fortunate to do a cultural and musical study abroad in Bamako, Mali (West Africa) where she studied the Jeli Ngoni- a great great grandmother of the American banjo- with Benke Diabate.
Malian Jeli (aka griot) music had long amazed her, after hearing it at her hometown "GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance," and she continued to be mesmerized by its intricacy and power while up close in Mali. Lydia learned some tunes and technique on the Ngoni Juru Nani (four string ngoni), and little bits of Malian feel as well as technique from the ngoni continue to trickle into her playing.
Lydia has played with several Ithaca, NY area bands over the years, such as the Hogwashers (Old Time) and Bayou Road Krewe (Cajun). She toured in the U.S. and Europe with the Turtle Duhks, a trio which released their debut album "True Lover" on Sugar Hill Records in 2007.
Lydia has been playing with her band Home Remedy with band-mate Rosie Newton since 2013, which released a self titled album in 2019.
Lydia also plays with her new band The Makers, a duo with Nate Silas Richardson. The Makers are currently working on their first studio album.
More recently, Lydia has been playing with "Alaska's Fiddling Poet," Ken Waldman on his recent Northeastern tour.
She is also fortunate to play from time to time with her longtime friend and musical inspiration, Mohawk singer songwriter Bear Fox.
Lydia's first fiddler's convention (Mt. Airy, NC) in '98 with her mother Gay Garrison (on the right), and friend Julie Magura.
Lydia’s first band The Darling Clementines busking on the Ithaca Commons in ’98 or ’99.
Lydia's Music
GrassRoots Festivals: Finger Lakes & Shakori Hills
Lydia grew up attending her hometown festival every July: the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance. Still going strong 30+ years in, GrassRoots presents rocking roots music: a mix of bands from the local and regional area, Louisiana, Native America, as well as nationally touring headline acts, and international bands with a focus on African music.
After high school Lydia worked with the GrassRoots Festival organization founding the Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival in Silk Hope, North Carolina. It was a dream come true to work for the most exciting and hopeful thing she’d come across in life: the festival she thought of as "church" growing up. Despite attending real church sometimes as a kid, Grassroots felt like her real church because that's where she felt God - the music felt sacred to her. Pictured here, Lydia shares the stage with festival host band Donna The Buffalo in their "All Star Revue" Show.
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, porch board foot percussion, and sings. Who else in Ithaca could Lydia find who plays electric guitar like Lucinda William’s guitarist, calabash like Boubocar Traore’s percussionist, guitar like Boubocar Traore himself- and on some songs a Bluegrass-esque style, and sings sweet harmonies? The answer is: Nobody. It’s a lucky and unique partnership.
[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]
Click here for Videos of recent performances.
Home Remedy
Home Remedy is Lydia with 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. For Lydia, this centered around the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance; for Rosie the Woodstock, NY music scene.
Both their mothers were musicians, and started them in their respective musical styles: Celtic and Classical for Rosie; Cajun for Lydia.
In Home Remedy, Lydia and Rosie play fiddles, accordions, guitars, banjo and some percussion.
Click here to watch and listen
Bear Fox
Lydia met Theresa "Bear" Fox in 2001 when Lydia 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".
It was an honor for Lydia to have Bear, a respected friend, musical "big sister," and a cultural treasure, grace her album as a partner in music.
Bear later invited Lydia to sing and play on her new album, and then they began performing 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.
Click here for Video
Ken Waldman: Alaska's Fiddling Poet
Ken Waldman has drawn on 37 years as an Alaska resident to produce poems, stories, and fiddle tunes that combine into a performance uniquely his. He will take you on a journey through his experiences in Alaska and beyond, sometimes teaching a writing workshop as part of the show. Lydia joins him on fiddle, banjo, guitar, percussion and vocals, providing soundscape to his stories, backing him up on his original fiddle tunes, and sprinkling in a few of her original songs. Ken is a badass rattle player when he accompanies her songs!
Ken's 12 CDs mix Appalachian-style string-band music with original poetry (and he's recorded over 100 of his own compositions—tunes that sound like they ought to be traditional). 20 books include 16 poetry collections, a memoir, a children's book, a creative writing manual, and a novel.
Click here for Videos
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 recorded their first album in 2007 on Sugar Hill Records. They did a couple tours in Europe between the Duhks busy schedule - one as the backing band for Eileen Carson's Footworks Dance Ensemble - and had a ton of fun doing it! The Duhks' schedule and other awesome and important life opportunities have kept the TurtleDuhks from meeting regularly, but they still play occasionally when conditions are right. Look for them under a full moon, at a wild-at-heart festival, leading a jam, doing a main stage show, or playing for a dance. One of their favorite gigs was at a "musik after-schoolen" in Denmark - a part time live-in music school for kids and teens - because they were among peers. (Well, the kids were younger, but in spirit it was a perfect fit!)
The TurtleDuhks have opened for Natalie MacMaster, and Lukas Graham (before he was world famous) opened for the TurtleDuhks once! This was because his wonderful father, Eugene (rest his soul) booked our tour and traveled with us.
Click here for Videos
Old Time Fiddle, Banjo & Guitar Lessons
Lydia has been teaching fiddle and banjo since she was 15. Most recently she's taught Old Time guitar at BlackPot Camp in Eunice, Louisiana.
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 Old-Time music is a great way to connect with other people and have fun, and she enjoys sharing the passion with students.
She learned music by ear and teaches it this way as well.
Healing Sessions: CranioSacral Therapy
Besides playing music, Lydia also practices CranioSacral Therapy, Reiki, and massage. She works on people of all ages from infants to the elderly. She works at her home office and also does home visits.