The Bay Area helped make Laurie Lewis a bluegrass star, and others are following her footsteps

The Bay Area’s vibrant acoustic music scene in the 1960s and 1970s helped make Berkeley’s Laurie Lewis, who grew up learning classical piano and violin, a bona fide bluegrass star and an inspiration to young local musicians who’ve followed in her footsteps.

Bluegrass festivals seeded fan communities far beyond rural Appalachia, where the string band musical style was popularized by Grand Ole Opry star Bill Monroe. But there was something about the Bay Area that made it easy for someone like Lewis...