Times Argus Review: Spencer Lewis and his new guitars
Article Published: September 2, 2010

By Art Edelstein Arts Correspondent

If you’ve been following the career of Bethel musician Spencer Lewis then you’ve watched this multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter build an impressive catalog of 18 CD albums over a career that spans 25 years. You’ve seen a musician work really hard as he followed his inner muse, creating music that has a signature sound and a definitive imprint that always says “Spencer Lewis” whether it’s an instrumental or vocal project.

His recently released “The Highest” is an album that takes Lewis in a somewhat new direction.

Lewis is known for his New Age approach to composition and recording. Many of his albums feature layered violin, almost always in a major key, with folk themes, and flat-picked guitar parts that underlie the violin work. He has developed guitar riffs that are instantly recognizable and a violin sound and approach that has come to define his recorded and live sound. On his songs we hear a composer who owes much to the music of icons like Woody Guthrie. These are simple, heartfelt story songs of real people from rural America. Download a PDF of the full article

Upper Valley Life Article, November/December 2008

A Balm From Gilead, The Handmade Music of Spencer Lewis

By John Walters, Photographed by Tim Calabro

The guitar takes its time, crafting a tune with care, like a Vermonter building a stone wall or a cabin in the woods. The violin wraps itself around the tune, defining a sonic landscape - like the forested hillside where the Vermonter builds. And like the stone wall or the cabin, the music is built for comfort, and it’s built to last.

Come, trace the music to its source: leave the highway and drive up a back road that follows the twists and turns of Gilead Brook. Don’t blink, or you'll miss the driveway. It rises into the trees, takes one sharp bend, and there is the home of Spencer Lewis: a woodsy looking place on a small clearing. Lewis' property encompasses 45 acres of hand cleared trails, suitable for hiking in summer and back country skiing in winter. You can almost hear his music, as if it arose naturally from the surroundings. The phrase "a sense of place" gets overused a lot in these parts - Lewis himself used it for an album title - but it surely does fit. Download a PDF of the full article

Times Argus Article published July 25, 2008

Spencer Lewis: Two albums, two approaches

By Art Edelstein Arts Correspondent

Spencer Lewis, who has made a successful musical career as a vocalist, guitarist, new age fiddler, and songwriter, is passing a milestone in 2008 as this is his 20th year in the recording business. To celebrate he's released two new CDs: "Drifter," a live performance from last year's First Night Montpelier, and "Up on the Mountain," which includes cello accompaniment to his guitar and violin work. In all, the Lewis catalog now contains 19 CDs, a prodigious number for a musician whose performance schedule is fairly slim and limited primarily to Vermont and frequently only at craft fairs. Download a PDF of the full article

Valley News Article published December 11, 2003

Bethel Resident Spencer Lewis: Fashioning a Life of Music and Stone

By Tom Hill Valley News Staff Writer

Whether you know it or not, you've probably heard the soothing, acoustic tunes of Spencer Lewis. Not on the radio, not at any major music festivals. But the soft spoken guitarist violinist from Bethel - who has released 14 CDs on his Quartz Recordings label - is a ubiquitous presence at a couple of dozen neo-rustic retail outlets in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Upstate New York.

"I always knew that if I could get headphones on someone's head, they'd hear, they'd buy" Lewis says hunkered in his small, funky shed that serves as his studio. Deep in the woods close behind his comfortable home on a winding dirt road, and cluttered with recording gear, Quartz Recordings won't be the subject of an MTV documentary anytime soon. Download a PDF of the full article