Cathy & Marcy have toured worldwide from Japan to New Zealand, Vancouver to New York and everywhere in between. Recent shows include the Old Songs Festival (NY), The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (OH), Levitt Pavilion Steel Stacks (PA), and Summerfolk (Ontario, Canada). American Voices Abroad chose Cathy & Marcy with fiddler Barbara Lamb to perform in China, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in 2013 for the U.S. Department of State..
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Tony Furtado became a banjo player in sixth grade after doing a report on the instrument, making a rough banjo out of household items and studying the history of the instrument. At a young age he won a pair of National Bluegrass Banjo Championships.
As a young banjo player, Furtado found himself playing the genre of music most represented by the instrument -bluegrass. But all along, he was listening to everything from Celtic music, Jazz, American Folk as well as artists like Tom Petty and Jackson Browne. He was also delving into his parents' collection of classic rock records (The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, etc...). At the ripe age of nineteen Furtado had already earned himself a reputation as a banjo prodigy. Yet Furtado decided that one genre wasn't enough for him; creatively, he had something more to express: "I don't think I could ever be happy staying in any one place musically," he said.
Furtado then picked up the slide guitar and soon established that his dexterity transitioned with ease. Using fingers and a bottleneck, he absorbed everything he could from albums by Ry Cooder, Fred McDowell, David Lindley and Blind Willie Johnson. He was soon writing music with the slide guitar and featured it on his 1996 Rounder Records release, "Roll My Blues Away". After a move to Colorado, where he based his band, "Tony Furtado Band" as well as "Tony Furtado and The American Gypsies", Furtado started his "road-dog" life, playing as many as 250 days on the road. The music was mostly instrumental based, high energy folk-rock, but it wasn't long before Furtado began writing songs. Though his previously released banjo albums featured the vocals of talents such as Allison Krauss, Tim O'Brien and Kelly Joe Phelps, this driven artist chose to add singer to his songwriter and instrumental titles.
Furtado's 1987 win at the National Banjo Competition (a feat he would repeat in 1991) led to a touring sideman stint with bluegrass musician (fiddle) Laurie Lewis (Laurie Lewis and Grant Street) and the launch of his professional career. But, bluegrass was only one style of music that interested Mr. Furtado. He has spent his decades in the music business fusing bluegrass, country, rock, blues, jazz, and folk (both American and European) on his expanding instrument arsenal of banjo, guitar, slide guitar and voice.
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Jack Hatfield wrote for Banjo Newsletter for over 30 years and has written several acclaimed banjo instruction books published by his own company Hatfield Music, and several 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. He performs the conventions weddings, and special events throughout East Tennessee with his band True Blue.
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 next year .He was Bluegrass Director for all three of Banjo Newsletter's Maryland Banjo academys and has directed the BNL/ SPBGMA workshop in Nashville for seventeen years which has featured the top names in the banjo world. Jack was on the faculty of the very FIRST banjo camp, the Tennessee Banjo Institute at Cedars of Lebanon near Nashville in 1988. He was Bluegrass Director for all three of BNL's Maryland Banjo Academys. The SMBA is now going into its eighth year and the merger with Five-String Fest promises to launch it to an all new level.
Jack is owner/operator of Hatfield Music, providing everything the banjo player needs from instructional materials to banjos to accessories. Jack was featured on the cover of Banjo Newsletter, July 2001.
Dan Levensen, formerly banjoist and bandleader of the Boiled Buzzards string band, is a long-time Banjo Newsletter writer, and well known old-time performer and teacher of banjo, fiddle, and clogging. A Southern Appalachian native Dan was raised with Old Time Music. He has become a true master musician and teacher in both the Clawhammer Banjo style and Old Time Fiddling. His dad called square dances and his mom played guitar, piano and sang. With 10 Mel Bay publications including his innovative Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch and 10 recordings to his name, Dan is one of the undisputed influences on today’s old time music aficionados.
Dan is a modern day troubadour in the truest sense of the word. A full time musician, Dan travels the country with banjo and fiddle singing songs and telling stories of the road. Dan was born and raised Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the northernmost city of Southern Appalachia. He maintains an old homestead in Gallia County in the Appalachian region of Southern Ohio when he is not on the road or in the Southwest for the winter. Dan’s parents were Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania natives as well and they raised him with the music he has come to perform. His father, Fred, called dances and his mother, Naomi, played piano, guitar, and sang in several musical groups in the Pittsburgh area including her temple choir. They even met at a square dance!
Dan has been touring internationally for over 20 years now. In that time he has become a well known master artist and instructor of the Appalachian style fiddle and old time clawhammer banjo.
His stage show, An Evening with Dan Levenson, combines old time fiddle, Appalachian banjo, guitar, dance and song in a storytelling format to tell the story of life in rural Appalachia and life on the roads of America via the music of our country. He is an accomplished and dynamic fiddler who has taught himself to fiddle and clog at the same time—a real treat to see! Audience participation and occasional guest performers figure strongly in his shows and children won’t let themselves be left out of the fun!
Dan is a native southern Appalachian style fiddler though his playing today relates the many traditions he has been exposed to over his lifetime. A part of his show is telling the story of each of his fiddles and their respective tunings. Double stops, special effects, and exquisite bowing round out his style and make him an exciting visual as well as listening experience. In 2001, Dan went contesting a little in his home state of Ohio and won the Old Time Fiddle contest in Coshocton and took second place at the Caesar’s Creek Old Time Music Festival. He has since won awards in his adoptive state of Arizona including the Ajo Fiddle Contest Grand Championship. He teaches pre-beginner to performance level fiddlers at workshops, festivals, and camps, and has students all across the country as well as around the world.
Dan combines superb musicianship with the ability to teach what he knows in a way folks can understand and apply to their own playing. His fiddles were built by award-winning American fiddle builders, Clifford Hardesty of Coshocton, Ohio and Elon Howe of Newego, Michigan. Dan’s relationship with these fine gentlemen is also part of his story and both men continue to maintain Dan’s fiddles in top playing condition.
Dan Levenson has been voted one of the country’s top ten clawhammer banjo players by Banjo Newsletter readers. He is well known as the banjo player for the Boiled Buzzard Stringband and Fiddler and banjo player in the Dan Levenson Trio. Dan has traveled inside and outside the country playing and teaching for many years. He teaches the full range of levels from the outright beginner to performance level.
He is the originator, owner and presenter of Meet the Banjo ™, a 3 hour hands-on workshop where he brings the banjos! This class teaches history of the instrument and introduces both bluegrass and clawhammer styles. His beginner’s video/DVD series and class is entitled Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch: A Guide for the Clawless is the first new old time clawhammer banjo instruction manual in over 20 years and is a Mel Bay Publication as is his prior tab book Buzzard Banjo Clawhammer Style. Dan is an endorsee for the Deering Banjo Co., OME Banjos, Cedar Mountain Banjos and Lee Banjos as well as for Taylor Guitar, Elixir Strings, The Colorado Case Co. and the Stewart MacDonald Co. His tenth recording, Bare Naked Banjos, is a solo banjo album that has received exceptional revues from Bluegrass Unlimited and Sing Out! magazines as well as a great deal of interest and play time by traditional music radio stations in the United States and abroad. He even finds time to write for Banjo Newsletter, THE publication dedicated to the Five String Banjo.
Today Dan is a sought after performer and workshop leader who is becoming known for his workshops in Appalachian banjo and fiddle styles including his innovative Meet the Banjo ™ workshops where he brings the banjos! Banjo Newsletter’s R.D. Lunceford describes Dan “as an interpreter, rather than a music recreator”. Fiddler Magazine’s Bob Buckingham describes him as “an accomplished fiddler and ...one of the best clawhammer banjo players in the country.”
Voted one of the top 10 clawhammer players by Banjo Newsletter readers, Bluegrass Unlimited calls his playing “melodic, meticulous and uncluttered.”
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James McKinney is an amazing banjo player, one of the most technically precise and advanced players anywhere. He will be performing at Five-String Fest with his band the Night Travelers, and he will be the head judge in the Bluegrass banjo competition on Sunday. James is a true Master of the 5-string banjo. One of the most advanced players anywhere and a Scruggs and Reno style expert, James is also considered a leading expert in jazz and theory in the banjo world, having been mentored by renowned jazz educator, David Baker, and Mr. Henry Ferrel (teacher of Chet Atkins and Jethro Burns).
In his early days James played often with legends such as Bill Monroe, Vassar Clements, and John Hartford. James won the South U.S. Banjo Championship at age 15 and in 1982 he won the National Banjo Championship at Winfield, Kansas, as well as first-place in dozens of state and regional championships. He made the first of several appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, The Porter Wagoner Show, and the stages of Opryland at age 19 as part "Smoky Mountain Sunshine" combining his talents as a banjoist with those of musical arranger.
In the 1980's he lived in Dallas and recorded and toured with his band "Danger in the Air" and later moved to Nashville to do full-time touring and studio work.
James spent many years as a popular studio musician in Nashville and performed/recorded with the likes of Porter Wagoner, Barbara Mandrell, John Hartford, and Johnny Cash in addition to a long and close friendship and professional relationship with legendary fiddler ,Vassar Clements, with whom he toured and performed as "The Vassar Clements Band".
James has recorded on many projects and taught at many major banjo camps including SPGBMA workshops and other Master workshops all over the USA and in Australia.
Today, James lives in Atlanta, GA and has launched a new acoustic group called, "The Night Travelers", together with bassist Niki Portmann. They currently tour and play in the southeast region and are soon to release their first CD project, "Campfire".
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Tom Nechville, of Nechville Musical Products, 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 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 Hatfield's SPBGMA 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. He has conducted online lessons Since 2001 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 and 2012 SMBA's and was a huge hit with students and the staff band who mentioned they enjoyed performing with him up as much as anybody there. Ross will be selling his instruction materials in the vendor area all three days and teaching SMBA classes.
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Don Wayne Reno (onsite Friday) is a virtuoso banjo player. He will be appearing in Reno and Harrell, a new band that pays tribute to the "original" Don Reno and Bill Harrell, featuringnthese bluegrass pioneer's one sons. Don Reno Sr. 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, 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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Ron Stewart
Ninth Annual
