Old Settler's Music Festival Platters

Lauren Shera

Originally from northern California and currently calling Nashville home, Lauren Shera's third disc recalls the West Coast rather than Tennessee. Despite its Laurel Canyon comforts – jangling strings and sunny melodies – she calls it a goodbye to the Golden State. Even so, Shera stands out from a nation of women singer-songwriters working today. The torrid "Hell's Bells" and baroque orchestral setting of "Sweetgrass" combine delicate emotions with an ethereal grace. A duet with Matthew Hegarty of English folk-popsters Matthew & the Atlas, "Stepheny and Agbar," finds Shera expanding into storytelling beyond the love and loss subject matter she's most comfortable expressing. The results: All Gold & no Rust. (Sat., 1:30pm, Bluebonnet stage)