corded by a woman.” Ms. Fink sees discrimination against

corded by a woman.”

Ms. Fink sees discrimination against female performers in the country and bluegrass music business and she’d like to change the status quo so that all performers — male and female — are treated as individuals, but she’s not a radical.

She’s careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water — she loves bluegrass, despite its rampant

sexism. She sings her original compositions and the lesser-known work of women artists who have preceded her, but she also sings and plays the classics, her improvisations

and daring changes in chord progression which brings a refreshing newness to old standards like Wildwood Flower, I'm so Lonesome I could Cry and Oh, Susanna.

She describes her own compositions and her favorites from the country pioneers as “realistic,” not feminist, music. She’s not strident, but she remains a crusader for equal

opportunity, pushing for the day when an all-woman bluegrass band can take the stage without the audience marveling, “ ‘Look! Little ladies playing bluegrass! And that girl can flat out flatpick, too!’ ”

Ms. Fink has a second cause, the preservation and continuation of the music she loves, and that means introducing it to the next generation.

“There’s no excuse for a kid to grow up in the Washington-Baltimore area without exposure to live folk music, traditional music,” she insisted.

“It’s time for our school systems to realize that America’s traditional music is as important as choral music. It’s part of our history, part of our culture.”

She doesn’t just preach about the importance of exposing young people to musical Americana; she practices it. On Friday afternoon, before her concert at the Gay Street Theater, she’ll sing and play for the younger set at the Rappahannock County Elementary School.

Ms. Fink began giving children’s concerts in 1971, volunteering in day care centers and children’s hospitals.

“As long as I’ve been playing mu