Abigail Washburn

Abby’s soulful singing has been one of the signature sounds of Uncle Earl since she joined in May 2003. Recently signed to Nettwerk Records as a solo recording artist, her album Song of the Traveling Daughter was released in August, 2005. The album features original songs in English and Mandarin Chinese, which she speaks. Actually, Abby was headed down a career path in Sino-American releations when she heard an LP of Doc Watson and decided to take up old-time banjo. She met KC Groves at the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) in Louisville, Kentucky and joined the band that summer. Combining her love of traditional American music, Chinese language and classical Chinese poetry, she began writing songs ” some of which happen to be in Chinese. Her writing earned her a second place award in the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest in 2004. Abby lives in Nashville, TN