With a lilting alto voice, Lindsay Straw delivers a rootsy blend of Celtic, Americana, original and cover songs, alternating deft fingerstyle and flatpicking on guitar with twinkling bouzouki accompaniment.
Montana-born guitarist, singer, bouzouki player and teacher Lindsay Straw found her musical home in Boston’s vibrant local Celtic music scene while studying at Berklee, where she added the influence and music of the Irish session world to her folk revival inspirations (Renbourn, Jansch, Graham, Bensusan). While she continues to draw from the deep well of traditional Celtic music, in recent years she’s been embracing American roots music and blending style and songs from both sides of the Atlantic. She can be found playing all over New England and beyond, not only solo but in duos with both Andy Cambria and Larry Young, and in bands The New Grown-Ups (modern American roots), Accardi, Frankowicz & Straw (Celtic) and The Ivy Leaf (Celtic). With four albums and countless festival, club, and private event gigs under her belt, Lindsay has been heralded as a reincarnation of the legendary trad singers of eras past.
During the pandemic, Lindsay pivoted from live performance into the boutique guitar retail world, working closely with some of the world’s best modern luthiers to promote their work at shops like The Music Emporium, Cedar Rock Studio & Guitar Gallery, and The North American Guitar (now Carter Vintage). She also has a growing fanbase of fellow players and students on Patreon and YouTube, where she puts out transcriptions and tutorial content for fingerstyle guitarists.
"With a voice as bold and beguiling as the songs she chooses, Straw carries the torch of traditional folk music with striking elegance and a fierce breath of originality . . . Beyond the songs, Straw’s passion for the history of the music is matched only by her seemingly limitless abilities. The charming anecdotes of the people behind the songs bridge the gap between past and present, connecting listeners to a Celtic past in order to make sense of the future."
Instruments:
Lindsay plays a a Brondel A-2 cocobolo and Carpathian spruce, and a Fylde long-scale archtop bouzouki in spruce Indian rosewood. She’s also a Jewitt Guitars artist, playing a Jewitt 00-13c redwood and walnut, as well as a Blind Guitars artist, playing a B-26 Indian rosewood and Adirondack spruce and a 12-fret B-26 mahogany and Alpine spruce.
Though she graduated Berklee with a Film Scoring degree, Lindsay has dedicated her career to live performance, building up a busy schedule of solo performances and current collaborations with The New Grown-Ups, Larry Young, Andy Cambria, and Cara Frankowicz & Dan Accardi, as well as past collaborations with The Ivy Leaf, Christine Hedden & Rebecca McGowan, Preston Wilde & Darcy Noonan, Jordan Santiago, Caroline O’Shea, and The Morning Tree. She’s opened for or shared the stage with Frankie Gavin, Catie Curtis, Cantrip, Mairi Black, Còig, Noctambule, among others.
Highlights from 2024-2025 include singing the lead in the world premiere of Christine Hedden’s piece “Solstice” in June 2025, to performing and presenting at the 2025 Artisan Guitar Show showcasing guitars from Kathy Wingert and Noemi Schembri. With Larry Young, she performed for Old North Church’s Lanterns & Luminaries event honoring Ken Burns and Sen. Markey and Gov. Healey. The New Grown-Ups won the band competition at the final Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass festival in September 2024, released their full-length album in June 2025, and performed at Ossipee Valley Music Festival and the inaugural Crooked River Gathering. She was also honored to perform with the Celtic and Cape Verdean bands in the Midwinter Revels 2024 show, “The Selkie Girl & The Seal Woman.”
She’s regularly appeared at the historic Club Passim, Bluegrass Tuesdays at Lily P’s, the Burren Backroom Series, Blackstone River Theatre, and has been featured at countless coffeehouses and concert series at libraries, historic houses and markets across the region. She’s also performed for events and festivals at MIT, Brown, Brandeis, Regis, Emmanuel, and Mount Wachusett Community College, as well as for corporate events like the International Space Station Research and Development Conference, and fundraisers like Facing Cancer Together.
New England festival highlights include: Ossipee Valley Music Festival (ME), Crooked River Gathering (ME), Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival (ME), BCMFest (MA), Joe Val Bluegrass Festival (MA), Morris Bluegrass Festival (CT), Maine Celtic Celebration, Maine Highland Games, Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival (NH), Salem Maritime Festival (MA), Boston Irish Festival, Salem Arts Festival (MA), NEFFA (MA), Willimantic 3rd Thursday Street Fest (CT), Antrim Harvest Festival (NH), and Harvard Square Folk Festival (MA).
Beyond New England, she’s toured solo and collaborated with Preston Wilde & Darcy Noonan for gigs along the West Coast; with Caroline O’Shea for a Midwest tour; and with The Morning Tree for an Ireland and England tour, with highlight performances at the legendary Cobblestone in Dublin, Levis’ Bar in Cork, and Sunflower Folk Club in Belfast. Solo highlights include performances at the Yachats Celtic Festival in Oregon, and the Fiddle & Bow Society of North Carolina.