By Khalida Sarwari
Lee Anne Welch’s musical journey began 35 years ago when her parents enrolled her in violin lessons. The Saratoga native dreamed of playing in a string quartet, but life had different plans for her.
Fast-forward to 2014 and Welch is now the recipient of the Northern California Bluegrass Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is a recognition of Welch’s more than three decades of performing and teaching.
“I’m delighted,” Welch said about winning the award. “I was never expecting anything like this. I had to collect my jaw off the floor.”
Welch wears two hats. During the week she’s a violin instructor who teaches mostly children at her home, as well as at schools in Mountain View, Los Altos and Campbell and at Keith Holland Guitars in Los Gatos.
On weekends, Welch trades in the backstage for center stage, performing with one of two bands, both locally and around the country. She just returned from a trip to Washington, where she performed in Seattle and Bellingham with the group Bandemonium.
Welch splits her time between Bandemonium and Sidesaddle, a bluegrass band she cofounded in 1979 that for the past 17 years has played bimonthly at Sam’s Bar-B-Que in San Jose. The band also performs at bluegrass and community festivals and fairs throughout California and has released seven recordings to date.
“I’m extraordinarily lucky to be able to have a day job that I have so much passion for,” said Welch.
Welch also plays in contra dance bands in the Bay Area. She has been teaching private violin lessons for more than 25 years using a teaching approach that focuses on violin technique and music theory and ear training. While most of her students are children, there are some adults, including an 88-year-old man that Welch said is her inspiration.
“One of the things I love to share is my passion with my students and my hope is that some of my students can experience some of the joy in the music,” Welch said.
To share that experience with her students, Welch will occasionally have a group join her on stage with one of her bands at a venue such as Sam’s Bar-B-Que or at a contra dance in Palo Alto. “I’ll get a dozen students to play whatever music we’ve been working on and it’s just so much fun,” she said.
From playing violin in the Carmel Valley Opera Orchestra and Santa Cruz Symphony to performing with a mariachi band to now performing at bluegrass festivals, it may appear–to an outsider at least–that Welch has been all over the musical map, but to Welch it’s the same instruments producing different sounds.
“Sometimes I look out when I’m playing in my bluegrass band and think, ‘It’s not far from my childhood dream,’ ” she said with a laugh.
Lee Anne Welch will be presented her Lifetime Achievement Award on Jan. 25 at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center Theatre in Redwood City.
