With a high-pitched voice that's been compared to Nanci Griffith and || Alison Krauss, Claire Lynch has successfully fused a background in || popular music and a love of bluegrass. Together with the Front Porch || String Band, the group she shares with her husband, Larry, Lynch has || been garnering attention as one of the most emotive vocalists in || contemporary bluegrass. A native of Poughkeepsie, NY, Lynch moved with || her family to Hazel Green, AL, at the age of 12. Inspired by the pop || songs of Joni Mitchell and the Beatles, Lynch sang as a youngster in an || informal trio with her sisters. || || Lynch met her future husband in high school. After their graduation, || Claire worked at an insurance agency while Larry attended the University || of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. A turning point came when Claire was invited || to hear a bluegrass band that Larry was forming with fellow students, || called Hickory Wind. She was so taken by their performance that she || accepted their invitation to sing with them. When Hickory Wind were || hired as the house band of a club in Birmingham, they changed their name || to the Front Porch String Band. Over the next seven years, Claire and || Larry, who were married in 1976, and the Front Porch String Band became || one of the hardest-working groups in Alabama. Their self-produced debut || album, Smilin' at You, released in 1977, was followed by Country Rain || later the same year. In 1981, the Front Porch String Band released a || self-titled, nationally distributed album on Rebel, while Claire || released her solo debut, Breakin' It, on the smaller Ambush label.