Muriel Anderson: Going Back to Her Roots

Muriel Anderson has gained a lot of notoriety over the years as a solo fingerstyle guitarist.

She’s performed with just about everybody including Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel.

This medley that she does here features some bluegrass tunes that she’s been playing for quite some time… only years ago and way back when, you most likely would have seen her flatpicking it instead of the fingerpickin’ .

Muriel and I went to the same high school, same year … Downers Grove North, which is located west of Chicago Illinois.  But I didn’t really get to meet or pick with her until after graduating.  My family had moved to New Jersey, but I did make some trips back to Downers Grove. While there, I went to a gig where she was playing in a bluegrass group called “The Wildwood Pickers”  of course doing only flatpicking.  We did get to do some playing and jamming which by the way also included a young fiddle player by the name of Allison Krauss.

Muriel of course left the bluegrass (guess that was a smart move) and continues to have a great career as a virtuoso fingerstyle guitarist.  Over the years it was so great to see her successes…

You might ask, did I ever run into her again… Strangely enough, no, especially since we were in the same music scene when I was in Vassar Clements’ band in Nashville and doing session guitar work.