Missy Raines
Missy Raines (born April 6, 1962) is a bassist, singer, songwriter, teacher, and bandleader from Short Gap, West Virginia. She began playing and touring professionally as a teenager. She played with the progressive bluegrass band Cloud Valley, alongside Bill Evans, Charlie Rancke, and Steve Smith. Her debut solo album, My Place in the Sun, came out in 1998 and won IBMA's Instrumental Recording of the Year. That year she also became the first woman to win IBMA's Bass Player of the Year, an award she has won ten times. From 1998 to 2005 she toured as a duo with guitarist Jim Hurst, and the two recorded Two (1999) and Synergy (2003). She also played with Claire Lynch and the Front Porch String Band, and from 2005 to 2008 she and Hurst were in the Claire Lynch Band. She formed Missy Raines & the New Hip in 2008. She later played in the Helen Highwater Stringband with Mike Compton, David Grier, and Shad Cobb. Her album Royal Traveller was nominated for a Grammy Award, and two of its tracks won IBMA awards: "Swept Away" won Recorded Event of the Year in 2018, and "Darlin' Pal of Mine" won Instrumental Recording of the Year in 2019. "Chicago Barn Dance," which she wrote with Becky Buller and Alison Brown, won IBMA's Song of the Year in 2020. She has served on IBMA's board of directors.
In the newsletter
- No. 2 January-March 1995
- No. 5 Oct.—Dec. 1995
- No. 8 Summer 1996
- No. 13 Fall 1997
- No. 16 Fall 1998
- No. 17 Fall 1998
- No. 18 Winter 1999
- No. 20 Summer 1999
- No. 21 Fall 1999
- No. 23 Spring/Summer 2000
- No. 24 Fall 2000
- No. 25 Winter 2001
- No. 26 Spring 2001
- No. 27 September 2001
- No. 28 January 2002
- No. 31 December 2002
- No. 33 September 2003
Wrote
- RAG, MAMA, RAG...: Conscious Choices (No. 8)