Quick Facts
Biography
Missy Raines (born April 6, 1962) is a bassist, singer, teacher, and songwriter. She has won seven International Bluegrass Music Awards for Bass Player of the Year, more than any other bass player within the field, male or female.
A former member of the Grammy- nominated Claire Lynch Band and the acclaimed duo Jim Hurst & Missy Raines. She is one of the most respected, popular, and trailblazing figures in bluegrass. Her rich pedigree reaches from legends such as Mac Wiseman, Kenny Baker, Josh Graves, and Eddie & Martha Adcock, to current artists such as Peter Rowan, Laurie Lewis, Dudley Connell, Don Rigsby, and the Brother Boys, and one half of the acoustic super duo, Jim Hurst and Missy Raines.
Currently, Missy leads her own band, Missy Raines & The New Hip, an Americana/jazz-tinged ensemble. 2008 to present. Missy Raines & the New Hip have released 2 albums on the Compass Records label, beginning with Inside Out which was released on February 10, 2009. And, New Frontier, released September 2013.
She is also one fourth of the bluegrass supergroup, Helen Highwater Stringband along with Mike Compton, David Grier, and Shad Cobb, currently touring.
In 2011 she began teaching double bass online at the Online Bluegrass Bass School with Missy Raines, as part of the ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass.
Missy Raines & the New Hip have released 2 albums on the Compass Records label, beginning with Inside Out which was released on February 10, 2009. And, also New Frontier, released September 2013.
Missy co-produced and played on the Compass release "I'll Take Love", a collection of Louisa Branscomb's songs sung by a top list of artists including, The Whites, Alison Krauss, Claire Lynch, Steve Gulley and Dale Ann Bradley, Josh Williams, John Cowan and more.
Missy Raines toured extensively from 1998- 2005 in a duo with Jim Hurst, known as Jim Hurst and Missy Raines. Together they recorded 2 albums for the Pinecastle label. "Two" in 1999 and "Synergy" in 2000.
Missy and Jim went on to re-join The Claire Lynch Band in 2005 along with David Harvey when Lynch returned to the road after a hiatus. They went on to record 2 more albums with that configuration, "New Day" and "Crowd Favorites", both on Rounder Records.
Hailing from Short Gap, WV, Raines began touring professionally as a teenager. She plays both straight-ahead bluegrass and more progressive forms of music.