Music Inside Out: Tomi Lunsford

Like so many other musicians who have made a home in Nashville, singer Tomi Lunsford has spent her life immersed in country music. A native of Asheville, NC, she played in a family band from a young age. Her father, Jim Lunsford, was a journeyman fiddler who played with superstars of classic country and bluegrass such as Roy Acuff, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Reno and Smiley, Bob Wills, and Marty Robbins. Her great-uncle, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, was a lawyer and famed collector of folk songs from the mountains of North Carolina. For Tomi Lunsford, these rambling roots in the culture of Appalachia have supported equally impressive branches. Her playful vocal style draws from jazz and the blues. There are traces of Billie Holiday, Betty Carter and Carmen McRae in Lunsford’s voice, as well as Memphis Minnie and Alberta Hunter. She boasts a four-octave range. In spite of her singular style and impressive pedigree, Lunsford is not yet widely known. She recently released the album Come On Blue