Laura Cash

Growing up in Corvallis, Oregon, Laura (Weber) Cash began to show musical interest early in her life. At age nine, after watching the “Sound Of Music”, she began playing out melodies on an old family accordion. Wanting to steer her in a different direction, her dad, Pat Weber, had a quality old German fiddle that needed restoring. Without the financial means to do this, but with carpentry as his trade, he built a two-story deck on the back of the violinmaker’s house in exchange for the work. She immediately developed a deep love for the fiddle. Laura calls this “The beginning of the rest of my life.” At twelve years old she began taking lessons from multi-instrumentalist and fiddle champion, Joey McKenzie. After just two months of playing contest style fiddling, Laura won the Jr. Jr. division in the Oregon State Fiddle Contest, a month later placing 3rd in her division at the National Fiddle contest. Her family was very supportive, traveling every summer to many fiddle contests all over the country. Through her teenage years, she held such titles as “Northwest Regional Jr. Champion”, “Western Open Jr. Champion”, “High Desert Jr. Champion”, “Oregon State Jr. Champion”, “Top Spud Jr. Champion”, “Sierra-Nevada Jr. Champion”, and in 1986,was honored with the “Benny Thomasson Memorial Award”. In 1989, she placed 5th in the “Grand Masters Fiddle Contest” in Nashville, TN. After much dedication, she grabbed the much-awaited title: “National Jr. Fiddle Champion” at Weiser, Idaho. It was then, shortly after graduating from high school, she moved to Nashville, TN to begin her professional career. Her first job was a yearlong tour with Patty Loveless, playing fiddle, guitar, mandolin and singing harmony. The next year she lived in Sakaide, Japan, performing in a bluegrass band for Japanese tourists. After returning to Nashville, she went back out on the road with several artists, including Pam Tillis, James House, Chalee Tennison, Sarah Evans, Brad Paisley, and many others. She appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with Roy Acuff and his “Smoky Mountain Boys”, as well as Ray Price and his “Cherokee Cowboys”. Nearly ten years ago, she was invited to play fiddle with June Carter-Cash on a tour to promote her album "Press On". With her love for the Original Carter Family’s music, Laura fit right in playing Mother Maybelle style guitar, Appalachian style fiddle, and singing old time harmonies. Laura soon met her future husband, June and John's son, John Carter Cash. They have been married since July of 2000 and have two children together, in addition to her step-son. They live on a farm and run the “Cash Cabin Studio” beside their home in Hendersonville, TN. She has released one album, "Among My Souvenirs". It consists of traditional country music, each song picked to honor her favorite singers and players such as Bob Wills, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, Hank Williams, etc. She was joined by her father-in-law on his song, "I Still Miss Someone". As well, a long list of veteran musicians throughout the album. She has appeared on Johnny Cash’s album's," American III", and "American IV", and June's "Wildwood Flower". She also appeared with Larry Gatlin on the gospel album entitled "Voice of the Spirit". She has also enjoyed recording with such artists as Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Earl Scruggs, Billy Joe Shaver, Mac Wiseman, and many others. She is currently working on her next studio album, which will be released late next year.