Katie Laur, this year's recipient of the Ohio Heritage Fellowship for Performing Arts, has performed at venues as prestigious as the Kennedy Center and as far afield as in Russia. A native of Paris, Tennessee, Laur has been a mainstay of the Cincinnati music scene for more than 30 years, breaking in with Jim McCall, Vernon McIntyre and the Appalachian Grass before forming her own band in 1975. The Katie Laur Band had a central role in the thriving southwest Ohio bluegrass scene, playing clubs, concerts, major festivals, the Mountain Stage and Prairie Home Companion radio programs and holding court at Aunt Maudie's Country Garden in Cincinnati. One of the very few bluegrass bands of the time that was led by a woman, the Katie Laur Band recorded three albums on Vetco showcasing Laur's powerful, blues-tinged singing and some of the region's best bluegrass musicians, including Buddy Griffin, Jeff Roberts and Larry Nager. In 1997, Laur recorded Main Street, a salute to the bluegrass history and tradition of Cincinnati. Laur has hosted the bluegrass radio program Music from the Hills of Home on WNKU since 1989. She has also made her mark as a writer for CityBeat, Cincinnati's arts weekly.