Sharon Lewis founded Deep River in Connecticut in 1992, then moved to Nashville in 1993 with partner Sandy Howard. During their 1993-2003 Nashville decade Deep River sang with Country Music Hall of Fame Member Vince Gill, and opened for Country Music Hall of Fame Member Charlie Louvin, Grand Ole Opry Member Mark Wills and the 'First Lady of Bluegrass' Wilma Lee Cooper. Since moving to Asheville in 2003 Deep River has opened for Grammy-winning country star Kathy Mattea.
Deep River made its Asheville debut at Barley’s Taproom downtown in August 2007. Since then Deep River has played at The Grove Park Inn, The Altamont Theatre, White Horse Black Mountain, Highland Brewing, The DFR Lounge, Isis Music Hall, The Grey Eagle, Ambrose West, The Purple Onion, Bold Rock Cidery, Blue Ghost Brewery, Biltmore Lake’s, Banner Elk’s and Lake Toxaway’s Summer Concert Series, as well as the WNC Mountain State Fair and the Saluda Arts & Music Festival, not to mention numerous charitable events.
While in Nashville Sharon and Sandy recorded three CDs, wrote or co-wrote eight songs, two of which, 'Civil War' and 'Silver Eagle', received 'honorable mention' from Music Row magazine's Robert K. Oermann, and one of those, 'Silver Eagle', received radio airplay on small market country stations around the US. In 2015 'Civil War' received radio airplay on Asheville's KISS Country 99 FM.
Deep River is known for having three women lead singers who also sing three-part harmonies. The current line-up includes Lewis on vocals and bass guitar, Howard on vocals and Nita Smith on vocals, as well as Asheville Music School instructors Alec Fehl on lead guitar and Justin Watt on drums. Peter Millis on acoustic guitar and Kevin Sanders on keys. Other Asheville Music School instructors like Paul Strobel on fiddle and Phil Alley on guitar have been featured guests.
Deep River’s musical influences include Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, Pam Tillis, Trio aka Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton & Emmylou Harris, AKUS, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, The Cox Family, Shenandoah, Restless Heart, Highway 101, Diamond Rio, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles, CSN&Y, and Pure Prairie League.
