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MUSIC Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum at The Mountain House Comment By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted May. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated May 19, 2015 at 6:03 PM By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted May. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated May 19, 2015 at 6:03 PM » Social News Singer, songwriter and fiddler Laurie Lewis feels that not enough people get opportunities to hear acoustic instruments and voices in unamplified settings, the way mankind heard music before the mid-20th century. She and multi-instrumentalist Tom Rozum (mandolin, mandola and guitar) will present an intimate show at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 20 , at The Mountain House, 1148 Old Highway 99 S., just 6 miles east of Ashland. Admission is by a donation of $20 to $30. Call 541-482-2305 for reservations. The venue — a separate building that looks like an old barn — is a two-story structure that houses a performance area with seating for about 50 people. "The Mountain House is the oldest timber-framed house in Oregon south of the Willamette Valley," says owner Carol Burpee, formerly of Santa Barbara, Calif. "It was built in 1852 by the Barron family. It was a stagecoach stop, and it provided lodging for travelers on the Applegate Trail. "Acoustically, it's very nice room," she says. "There are parquet floors, old single-pane windows, and parking is available in the circular drive around the building." Lewis has been in the music industry for a long time, and she and Rozum have worked together for 25 years, she says during a telephone interview from her home in Berkeley, Calif. She grew up listening to her father and his woodwind quartet play classical music together, developing her sense and spirit of the conversations musicians experience when they're playing as a group rather than individually. "I'm a songwriter, and we play quite a few of my songs throughout a show," she says. "We also draw on traditional bluegrass, old-time and early country music for material. Also from other contemporary songwriters such as David Olney ("Nashville's answer to the Bard"), Southern Americana artist Kate Campbell, and songwriter and storyteller Kate Long. "The music we play is firmly rooted in bluegrass sensibilities, but we use it as a medium for self-expression rather than a genre. One can never tell what is going to happen from that place. We could go in any direction. We've been influenced by everything we've heard in our lives: The spirit and the harmonies of my father's classical quintet to The Beatles and The Byrds and everyone we grew up listening to. "I've found my focus is playing acoustic stringed instruments and making them sound as close to a natural sound — even when we're amplified — as is possible. I want to go for the tones that are instrinsic to the instruments and the human voice. We have good instruments that have beautiful tone." That means a lot of melodies and harmonies, and wherever that mix leads Lewis and Rozum, they will follow. "There are people who go on outdoor rafting and hiking trips with us they are so enamored of the sound of instruments and voices presented naturally, without any amplification," Lewis says. "They don't want to go to a club or big concert hall, they just want to hear us play in intimate places." Rainy and the Rattlesnakes — Lela Miatke on fiddle, Rainy Miatke on mandolin and Ray Miatke on guitar — will open the show. Dobro play Bob Evoniuk may sit in. When Lewis and Rozum aren't performing as a duo or playing with Lewis' full band, The Right Hands, featuring Patrick Sauber on banjo, Andrew Conklin on string bass, Chad Manning on fiddle, they're rafting rivers — the Rogue being one of their favorites — or backpacking along the John Muir Trail in the Sierra or the coastlines of northern California, Oregon and Washington. "I'm lucky," Lewis says. "I've created a life that suits me, I'll say that, but I'm lucky it's worked out so far." By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Laurie Heuston Mail Tribune Posted May. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated May 19, 2015 at 6:03 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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