Mary Flower , a 2008 Blues Music Award Nominee for "Acoustic Artist of the Year," is renowned for a uniquely personal vision of roots music that blends ragtime, acoustic blues, and folk styles.  Technically dazzling yet grounded in the down-to-earth simplicity of early 20th century American music, Mary boasts more stylistic diversity than just about any other artist currently performing under the "acoustic blues" banner.

Flower has earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike for her natural, unassuming vocals, but it's her instrumental skill - a mastery of the difficult Piedmont blues guitar style that takes most players a lifetime to hone - for which Flower is most celebrated. Her fingerpicking forms the basis of a heavily syncopated, ragtime-based style wherein the thumb plucks a strong rhythmic base as the fingers etch out the melody. Mary also excels at lap slide guitar, allowing her to infuse her songs with a supremely delicate, plaintive sound that's hers alone while recalling the blues giants of the past.

Having finished in the top three at the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship and appeared on radio programs such as A Prairie Home Companion and played at numerous folk and blues festivals including the Kerrville Folk Festival, King Biscuit Blues Festival, and Merlefest, Flower is in demand for festivals, concerts and guitar workshops on both sides of the Atlantic.

Available from Mary Flower on Yellow Dog Records (click album cover for details / sound samples) : Bridges  Deftly melds ragtime, country blues, swing, folk styles, and hot jazz through the mastery of Mary Flower’s fingerpicked and lap-style guitar playing. The Bridges of the title allude to the many different musical genres that give Mary’s distinctive sound its own unique character. Bywater Dance  Funky and folky, bluesy and beautiful - sometimes sounds like Memphis Minnie fronting the Hot Five. But though she can recreate prewar blues with the best of them, Mary Flower isn't content to be just another curator of the classic blues museum. Instrumental Breakdown Bluesy instrumental compilation featuring intricate performances from the only woman to place twice at the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship, with backing from a who’s who of roots notables.