Raines, Missy

MISSY RAINES

  • From Short Gap, West Virginia. Lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
  • Real name: Melissa Kay Raines Surratt (also plays a Kay bass!)
  • Has played bass with many bands including Stars and Bars, Cloud Valley, The Eddie Adcock Band, The Brother Boys, Claire Lynch and the Front Porch String Band.
  • 1997-2007, worked as a duo with guitarist Jim Hurst, both of whom were also members of the Claire Lynch Band.
  • 1998, recorded first solo project My Place in the Sun (no label).
  • 2000, released Two album with Jim Hurst (Pinecastle).
  • 2007, formed her own band called Missy Raines and the New Hip (a reference to her recent hip surgery).
  • 2009, released first “New Hip” album Inside Out (Compass).
  • 2012, formed a band with David Grier, Mike Compton and Shad Cobb called The Helen Highwater String Band.
  • 2013, released New Frontier album with The New Hip (Compass).
  • 2018, released “Swept Away” (single, Compass) with “The First Ladies of Bluegrass,” Sierra Hull (mandolin), Alison Brown (banjo), Becky Buller (fiddle) and Molly Tuttle (guitar). Each were the first women to win IBMA Awards in their respective instrument categories.
  • 2018, won the IBMA Award for Recorded Event of the Year (for “Swept Away.”)
  • 2018, released Royal Traveller album (Compass).
  • 2019, won her eighth IBMA Award for Bass Player of the Year (also won in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007.)
  • 2019, won IBMA Award for Instrumental Recording of the Year for “Darling Pal of Mine” (with Alison Brown, Mike Bub, and Todd Phillips).
  • 2021, began performing with her new band “Missy Raines and Allegheny,” a return to her bluegrass roots.
  • 2023, released Highlander album (Compass).