Eighth Annual SMOKY MOUNTAIN BANJO ACADEMY 2012 SMBA 2012 May 4th-6th at Wa-Floy Mountain Retreat near Gatlinburg, Tennessee sponsored by:

At the last SMBA in 2010, Beginner to Advanced classes were taught by experienced professionals, including bluegrass, classical, minstrel, jazz, and various old-time styles. The teacher-student ratio this year was excellent...often there were as few as three or four students with a Ron Block or Ron Stewart or Jack Hicks or Leroy Troy teaching what was practically a private lesson. Every three-day camper got their choice of instructors for a one-on-one private lesson.

Many students and faculty arrived Thursday night to get acquainted.There was a cookout and jamming, and we just got acquainted. The student banjo contest Friday evening was won by Alan Tompkns. Alan won a Deering Goodtime II travel banjo valued at over seven hundred dollars. Other prizes included custom straps and leather items by Dave Schenck of Dogwood Designs, Mel Bay instructional products, and OME Banjo company apparel.

The concert Saturday night was incredible, with a nice balance of old time, bluegrass and minstrel music. The staff band, jackie and Cindy Miller and John Miller, again drew praise from the faulty, many of whom commented that they pleasantly surprised at their high level of professionalism and general musicanship.

Sunday morning R.B. and Bridget Powell moderated a Gospel jam, and their other slow jams throughout the weekend were well attended. Sunday morning we also had an onstage student jam, allowing everybody to perform through the PA system.

SMBA chef Kevin Peck and his dad Art continued the tradition of authentic delicious Southern home cooking.The food was delicious, scoring an average of "10"out of a possible "10" on the exit surveys. Kevin and Art made EVERYTHING from scratch, even items many fine restaurants get pre-made or frozen, such as buttermilk biscuits and potato salad and Art's own "secret recipe" cole slaw. Breakfast included omelets made to order! Saturday's dinner rivaled anything that could have been ordered at Gatlinburg's finest restaurant, featuring London Broil and Southern style barbeque. BRAVO Kevin and Art!

Former Opryland entertainer Russ Jeffers was again concert MC, and this year he brought his beautiful and talented wife Becky. They added a new dimension to the Saturday concert, reuniting with James McKinney as Smoky Mountain Sunshine, the group that delighted Opryland audiences for over 20 years. Sister Jane Hatfield ran the camp store and kept the camp office running like a finely-tuned banjo.

Assistant Camp Director Betsy Burgin again organized the faculty concert and as always, worked behind the scenes keeping faculty on schedule and directing traffic, making sure everybody was where they were supposed to be, as well as dealing with the countless annoying little problems that come up, from maintenance and repair issues with the facility to making photocopies of handouts for the faculty to solving room assignment issues. Many campers commented on how smoothy things ran in general, and Betsy can be thanked for this.

The 2012 schedule has not been created yet, because faculty is still being acquired. To get an idea of what it will be like, you can view the schedule from the last SMBA in 2010:

FRIDAY 8:00AM: Registration 9:00AM: Orientation 9:30 History of the Banjo Presentation: Marc Smith and Dave Ball 10:15 Classes begin 12:30 Lunch 1:30 PM Classes resume 6:00 Dinner 7:00 Student Banjo Contest 8:00 Free time, Jamming

SATURDAY . . 7:00 AM Breakfast 8:00 AM Classes begin 12:45 Lunch 1:30 Group Photo 2:00 PM Classes resume 6:30 PM Dinner 8:00 PM Faculty Concert 11:00 Free time, Jamming

SUNDAY . . . 7:00 AM Breakfast 8:00 AM Gospel jam, Classes begin 9:00 Student onstage jam 12:30 Lunch 1:30 PM Classes resume 4:30 PM Classes end, Farewell Jam

CLICK HERE FOR SMBA 2012 REGISTRATION FORM

CLICK HERE FOR SMBA 2012 CLASS SCHEDULE

Check out the SMBA T-Shirt!

Help us promote the camp! Take flyers to concerts, bluegrass association meetings, banjo teachers, music stores and jam sessions. Put a couple in your banjo case and hand out to other banjo players, invite them to attend!

2012 SMBA faculty:

Dave Ball, Jason Bales, Greg Cahill, Wayne Erbsen, Jack Hatfield, James McKinney, Ross Nickerson, Tom Nechville, Ian Perry, Marc Smith, Don Wayne Reno, Leroy Troy, Sonny Smith, others TBA!

Dave Ball is a fine old time, brush and minstrel style banjo player. He is also a builder of fine banjos, with their roots mainly in the fine classic era banjo of the late 1800s. He plays for "The Mumbillies", a well known group in the East Tennessee area. Dave has a collection of old banjos that is so special the world's largest banjo exhibit "The Banjo - From Africa to America and Beyond" asked him to loan them several instruments. This exhibit was held last year at McClung Museum in Knoxville. Dave started playing banjo in 1970, when he took up three finger Scruggs style playing. Dave's grandfather and father both played in western Kentucky stringbands, so he had been around this kind of music his entire life. By the late 1970's, Dave was playing banjo seven nights a week in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, and it was also about this time that he took up old time clawhammer style playing. Since those days, Dave has won many banjo competitions including multiple first place honors at the prestegious Mt. Airy North Carolina festival and was National Champion Old-Time Banjoist in 2001. Dave is also an accomplished banjo maker, specializing in fancy high-end custom openback and internal resonator banjos. Dave will perform concerts and talk about banjo history and building and teach old time and minstrel style classes.

. Greg Cahill has been playing bluegrass banjo since the early 1970s. Greg co-founded The Special Consensus bluegrass band in Chicago in 1975 and has continued to tour nationally and internationally with the band since the late 1970s. In 1984, he created the Traditional American Music (TAM) Program to introduce students of all ages to bluegrass music. He has appeared on all 15 of The Special Consensus recordings, on numerous recordings by other artists and on many national television and radio commercial jingles. Greg has also released three recordings: "Lone Star" (1980, with guests Jethro Burns and Byron Berline); "Blue Skies" (1992, with Chicago mandolinist Don Stiernberg); and "Night Skies" (1998, with Don Stiernberg and guests Sam Bush, Glen Duncan and Tom Boyd). He has also recorded and toured European countries with the ChowDogs (Slavek Hanzlik, Dallas Wayne and Ollie O'Shea). In addition to conducting workshops at festivals, teaching at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and teaching banjo at music camps nationally and internationally, Greg has released four banjo instructional DVDs. He served on the Nashville-based International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Board of Directors from 1998-2010 (Board Chair/President 2006-2010) and was elected President of the Nashville-based Foundation for Bluegrass Music in 2011. .

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. Wayne Erbsenis a master of a number of styles of music including old-time, bluegrass, folk, Appalachian, cowboy, pioneer, railroad, gospel and music of the Civil War. As a solo performer living in Asheville, North Carolina, he plays clawhammer and bluegrass banjo, fiddle, mandolin and guitar. His repertoire is over one thousand songs. A typical program would include songs, stories, history and humor mixed with hot instrumentals. Wayne can design an educational musical program perfectly suited to the occasion and the audience.

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Jack Hatfield has been a writer for Banjo Newsletter for over 3 years and has written several acclaimed banjo instruction books published by his own company, and five banjo instuction books published by Mel Bay Publications. the largest publisher of stringed instrument music in the world. Jack was a finalist in the Tennessee Banjo Championship and the National Banjo Championship at Winfield, Kansas and has worked at several Pigeon Forge Theatres and attractions including Dollywood theme park and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. Jack has taught banjo workshops all over the USA and in England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia and Canada. He is scheduled to teach in Alberta Canada, and Hamburg, Germany later in 2010.He was Bluegrass Director for all three of Banjo Newsletter's Maryland Banjo academys and has directed the BNL/ SPBGMA workshop in Nashville for fourteen years which has featured names like Richard Bailey, Ron Block, Bela Fleck, Alan Munde, Bill Keith, Sammy Shelor, Terry Baucom, Scott Vestal, Eddie Adcock, Bill Evans, Doug Dillard, Steve Huber, Curtis McPeake, James McKinney, Wayne Erbsen, Sonny Osborne, J.D.Crowe, Pete Wernick, Geoff Stelling, Gary Price, Tony Wray, Tom Nechville, Charlie Cushing and Frank Neat. Banjo Newsletter contributors featured at SPBGMA have included: Janet Davis, Ian Perry, Ira Gitlin, Murphy Henry, Eddie Collins, Ross Nickerson and Andy Cushing. Jack was on the faculty of the very FIRST banjo camp, the Tennessee Banjo Institute at Cedars of Lebanon state park near Nashville in 1988. He was Bluegrass Director for all three of BNL's Maryland Banjo Academys. The SMBA is now going into its seventh year. Jack is owner/operator of Hatfield Music, providing everything the banjo player needs from instructional materials to banjos to accessories. Jack was featured in Banjo Newsletter, July 2001.

. James McKinney(onsite Fri-Sun) is an amazing banjo player, one of the most technically precise and advanced players anywhere. He won the South U.S. Banjo Championship at age 15. In 1982 he won the National Banjo Championship at Winfield, Kansas, to top off dozens of first-place state and regional championships. He made the first of several appearances on the Grand Ole Opry at age 19 and worked at Opryland theme park as banjoist and musical arranger. James recorded with his Dallas band Danger in The Air in the late 1980s and moved to Nashville in 1990 to play full time with his talented wife Angela in the James and Angela McKinney Band. James currently does studio and touring work out of Nashville. In addition to being a Scruggs and Reno style expert, he is a dedicated banjo teacher. He has taught at many major banjo camps, the SPGBMA workshop, and Master workshops all over the USA. He is one of the foremost jazz and theory experts in the banjo world, having been mentored by renowned jazz educator David Baker and Mr. Ferrell (teacher of Chet Atkins and Jethro Burns). He has performed and/or recorded with the likes of Porter Wagoner, Barbara Mandrell, John Hartford, and Johnny Cash in addition to a long and close professional relationship with legendary fiddler Vassar Clements. His newest project is called "Mind Over Banjo". James was featured artist in Banjo Newsletter July 1982.

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Tom Nechville, of Nechville Musical Products, (onsite Fri-Sun) has been in business since 1989, manufacturing professional banjos and related accessories for the booming acoustic and electric string instrument market. He has gained a respected reputation among the nation's top builders as being a leader in innovation and design. His company owns patents on Nechville's unique Heli-mount banjo design and it has been enthusiastically accepted by the world's top players such as Bela Fleck and Alison Brown.

Nechville Musical Products is always innovating to meet the changing needs of modern musicians. Replacing more than seventy parts of a traditional banjo, the Nechville Heli-Mount body tightens together much like a jar on a lid; greatly reducing the assembly time and improving the banjo's sound.

Tom has spent years in development and in consultation with the world's top players researching and finding ways to meet the needs of professionals. His experience has led to the refinement of the electric banjo, which has re-directed a new world-wide spotlight on the banjo. Nechville instruments have appeared on MTV, the Olympics opening ceremonies, CMA Awards show, numerous cable and Direct TV specials and in major live Country, Rock, Jazz and Bluegrass concerts around the planet.

Tom has worked with Alison Brown, Bela Fleck, Eddie Adcock, and others in development of his designs, and currently provides instruments for many of the world's top country, bluegrass, and jazz performers. Learn what's wrong with most banjos and see how Nechville has designed solutions to nearly every banjo problem. His patented designs such as the elegant helical head tensioning Helimount, adjustable neck attachment, beveled armrest, built-in capos, and compensated Enterprise bridges are stirring up the banjo world. Nechville is leading the "Banjo Revolution" into new territory with his unique designs for the electric and synthesizer banjos as well. Tom will have several instruments on display and will cover things like the benefits of radiused fingerboards, tunneled 5th strings, in-line tailpieces, and compensated bridges. Owners of traditional banjos as well as anyone interested in banjo will benefit from Nechville's set-up tips and theories for optimum banjo sound. In adition to teaching banjo setup/repair and theory, he will be displaying his full line of banjos. His book Dynamics of Banjo Sound will also be available.

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. Ross Nickerson (onsite Fri-Sun) is a gifted musician who has performed all over the world and made his home for several years in shows in Nevada casinos with the stars. He has taught private lessons and group workshops alike, including the SPBGMA/BNL workshop in Nashville. Ross started publishing banjo instruction books in the 1990's and has several Mel Bay titles and at least a dozen self-published books to his credit. Since 2001 he has conducted online lessons and sells his instructional DVD's, books and banjo accessories from his website Banjoteacher.com. He also conducts an annual Banjo Cruisewhere he teaches classes for a week while cruising the Carribean. Ross appeared at the 2006 SMBA and was a huge hit with students, the staff band and other faculty.

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. Marc Smith (onsite Fri-Sun) is a fine eclectic banjo player whose interests run the gamut of banjo history from the minstrel era to bluegrass. He plays old time, classical, brush style and minstrel style on authentic period instruments, as well as some fine bluegrass. Marc will perform a mini-concert, talk about banjo history and teach introductory classes in all these various styles. Marc has been playing the 5-string banjo since 1979 and teaching informally since the late 1990’s. Initially playing Scruggs-style, he quickly branched out into Clawhammer and Irish Tenor styles. A Banjo Newsletter reprint of “Spanish Fandango” from 1877 sparked an interest in historical banjo styles and attending the Tennessee Banjo Institute in 1992 fanned that spark into a flame. Since then, he has collected and studied banjos and banjo sheet-music from the 1850’s thru the 1920’s, learning the specific styles needed to play the music with historical accuracy and a feel for the period. Marc’s collection of 19th cent. Banjo sheet music is getting close to 1000 individual pieces with more being added every month. Marc has attended every Antietam Early Banjo Gathering (studying the banjo and its music 1830-1870) as well as being a long-standing member of the American Banjo Fraternity (Classic banjos and music 1870-1920) and is a member of a variety of internet groups which specialize in early banjos and the music that was played on them.

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Sonny Smith was born in Winchester,Tennessee on July 19, 1965 . Around age 7 his father instructed him to not play the banjo that he just put in his closet . His father also put a guitar in his brother's closet and instructed his brother Kenny as well "what ever you do do not play that guitar. Well being the golden goodness that they were and after being instructed to leave those instruments alone. Their father stepped outside of the house. Sonny gave the wink to little brother that the coast was clear ! The rest is history. These two boys would grow up playing music professionally. Sonny winning the National banjo championship in 1998 and little brother hauling in top honors in the bluegrass world as I.B.M.A. guitar player of the year. Sonny recalls his father not reprimanding him or his brother for playing those instruments in the closets.

Sonny entered his first banjo contest at age 10 in Portland, Indiana. "There were a lot of people out there in the audience" Sonny recollects "...and they had trophies that were almost as tall as we were to give away". From that moment on Sonny was hooked on contest banjo playing, something he still enjoys today.

Sonny also plays fiddle and has won many state titles and performing with some of country music greats such as Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Johnny Russell, Little Jimmy Dickens, Billy Walker, Johnny Bush, Arkey Blue and Elmer Dryer. Sonny recently performed in the Smoky Mountain String band at Dollywood theme park, along with Joe Sharp and guitar virtuoso Richard Bennett. He is currently performing at the Hatfield-McCoy Dinner Theatre in Pigeon Forge. Sonny also teaches private lessons when time permits.

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. Don Wayne Renois a virtuoso banjo player. He is a son of famed bluegrass musician Don Reno who was offered a job with Bill Monroe before Earl Scruggs, but had to decline to join the service. Reno was a true pioneer of bluegrass banjo. He learned the three-finger roll from Snuffy Jenkins, the same player Earl emulated. More than just a bluegrass band player, that, Don Reno was a great soloist, applying the three-finger roll style and the single string style that bears his name to pop, swing and jazz numbers and to slow songs as well as traditional bluegrass. Don Wayne plays all his dad's arrangements exactly like his father and can teach Reno Style with the insight of someone who has lived it from childhood and has it in his genes. But Don Wayne is also a great musician in his own right. Like his dad, Don Wayne does not limit the five-string banjo to bluegrass and old time music. He applies the five-string banjo to popular and rock music, as member of Hayseed DixieHayseed Dixie, an eclectic band with bluegrass instrumentation that tours worldwide playing hits of the rock group AC-DC among other things. Don Wayne is breaking the mold, in the spirit of his dad who ventured way beyond bluegrass on the five-string banjo.

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Leroy Troy (onsite Fri-Sun) is famous for zaney antics and entertaining in the style of Uncle Dave Macon, a minstrel/old time performer famous in the 1930's and 1940's. Leroy has apprared and Tennessee Banjo Institute, Maryland Banjo Academy, previous SMBA's, on the Grand Ole Opry, at dozens of festivals, and on Hee HawTV show. He was recently featured on the CMT TV show "Outsider Inn" with Bobby Brown, Carney Wilson and Maureen McCormick.

Leroy was only 2 years old when he got a toy fiddle for Christmas. Then at the age of 7 he discovered his parent's Flatt and Scruggs records. He wore that Foggy Mountain Breakdown record out and that started his fascination with the banjo. When Leroy Troy was 13 he found his first banjo on a junk truck at a flea market. He paid $7.00 for it. The frets where burnt off so he removed the fret board and made a fretless out of it.

By 1980 Leroy Troy had developed a reputation as a good Old Time Banjo Picker and Singer minus the banjo tricks. Then when he was 17 he met an old timer named Cordell Kemp. Leroy was amazed with Cordell's banjo playing. Cordell had learned first hand from"Uncle Dave Macon" star of The Grand Ole Opry. Cordell showed Leroy some banjo licks and tricks! Cordell Kemp influenced young Leroy so much he wrote and recorded "Ballad of Cordell Kemp." Leroy practiced, refined and expanded those banjo tricks and it was not long before he dazzled a nationwide audience on the hit TV Show Hee Haw. It was on this show Leroy Troy honed his country humor with some help from the Hee Haw cast Grandpa Jones, Archie Campbell, Junior Samples, and Minnie Pearl. Leroy made regular appearances on Hee Haw the seasons of 1984 and 1985, playing his banjo and he also played the part of Billy Bob in the "Farmer's Daughter" skit along side of Linda Thompson and Kenny Price.

Leroy Troy has been entertaining audiences since 1979 and continues to do so from New York to California, Maine to Florida and even Ireland and England. Be sure to check out his schedule and catch him at a festival near you!. He will be onsite Saturday doing concerts and teaching classes in Old Time and entertaining. .

SMBA STAFF BAND

John Miller is a gifted guitarist and lead/tenor singer. John hails from Northern Virginia, but is an east East Tennessee native. He has worked recently with Herschel Sizemore and done some fill- in work with the Lonesome River Band. He has has also played with Jack Hatfield's True Blue Grass and does instrument repair work specializing in acoustic guitars.

Jackie Miller is a virtuoso mandolin and fiddle player and sings great harmony vocals. Originally from Greenville TN, he now resides in Nashville, performing with the Ronnie reno and The Reno Tradition. He works for the Gibson company during the week, assembling and doing finish work on Gibson mandolins.

Cindy Miller, wife of Jackie, will lend an apt hand on upright bass. (By the Way, Jackie and Cindy are not related to guitar player John Miller!)

Master of Ceremonies for the concert Saturday night again will be Russ Jeffers. Russ and his wife Becky are from nearby Clinton, Tennessee, but lived in Nashville and performed at Opryland for over twenty years until the park was closed a few years ago. Russ is uniquely suited to be the SMBA Master of Ceremonies ~ more than one of the banjo players on the staff have worked with him in his band. Russ, the ultimate front man, will also teach a class on entertaining. Russ and Becky Jeffers are from Clinton, Tennessee, a small town just north of Knoxville near the foothills of the great Smoky Mountains. They attended the same high school and met in the local drug store in 1965 when both were teenagers. They married in 1967 and have a son David and a daughter, Christy. Small town beginnings have produced their share of hard-working successful people, and Russ and Becky are no exception. In 1971 after Russ was discharged from the United States Air Force, they decided to pursue their dream of music. With little else but a guitar, an up-right bass and two tiny children they moved to Nashville. Very few people move to "Music City" and live their dreams. This year they are celebrating their twenty-eighth year of entertaining and playing music. Russ and Becky performed over 15,000 shows at Opryland USA from 1974 - 1997 where they introduced "Bluegrass Music" to people from all over the world. Now they travel the world to bring their unique style of harmony, comedy and "down home" music. They have independently produced and marketed numerous recordings. They are living proof that in our wonderful country of America that with God's grace and a lot of hard work, you can live your dream. To paraphrase a popular commercial, they are indeed "The Professionals - The Old Fashioned Way - They Earned It!!

SHOPPING FOR A BANJO? DAYDREAMING ABOUT A FUTURE PURCHASE?
The full inventory of Hatfield Music banjos will be on display: Deering, Deering Goodtime, Nechville, Gold Star, Gold Tone, Recording King and many used banjos. (See website, click on "home" link below then "used instruments".) Banjo manufacturer/innovator Tom Nechville will have many banjos on display including his newest models.

MINI-CONCERTS
Mini-concerts will be ongoing, featuring each faculty member. Combination mini-concerts such as Scruggs Jam, Fiddle Tunes jam and Jazz Jam will be performed by groups of two to four faculty members.

How great was the last SMBA? Read the rave reviews and check out the photos from the 2010 SMBA!

Contact Director Jack Hatfield at:

Hatfield Productions
325 Laurelwood Dr.
Pigeon Forge, TN 37863
1-865-428-8063

CLICK HERE FOR SMBA 2012 REGISTRATION FORM

Help us promote the camp! Click here for a SMBA 2010 flyer to print and post at music stores, teaching studios, concerts, and jam sessions. Put a couple in your banjo case and hand out to other banjo players!.

Click here for photos.

Click here for Driving Directions to Wa-Floy retreat.

Click here for Yahoo driving directions to Wa-Floy retreat. Enter the destination address 3610 Parkway, Gatlinburg TN, 37738 WARNING: Yahoo often uses the shortest, as calculated by a computer, but not always the FASTEST or EASIEST route!

SMBA logo image courtesy of Dan Levensen.