September 9-11, 2005
Staff Biographies

Eddie Adcock is one of bluegrass music's bonafide legends. A unique stylist and superpicker on banjo and guitar, he's been a major force in the field since the 1950s. After selling a calf he'd raised to buy his first banjo, Eddie honed his talents with the likes of Mac Wiseman and Bill Monroe; then for 12 years he was the sparkplug member of the groundbreaking group, the Country Gentlemen. He later became a pioneer in both the "newgrass" and "new acoustic" music genres. Over the course of his fifty-year carreer, he he has been Bluegrass Music's Entertainer of the year; made a member of Virginia's Country Music Hall of Fame and had an annual day named for him by the governor of that state; he was also named an honorary "Kentucky Colonel." Eddie has recorded both banjo and guitar videos for Homespun, and he has been on staff at both the Tennessee Banjo Institute, and the Maryland Banjo Academy. Nowadays, most of his stage performances are with his wife Martha, in the duo, "Twograss." Eddy's most recent CDs are "Twograss" (with Martha Adcock) and "Renaissance Man."

Danny Barnes was a founding member of the Bad Livers -- an Austin, Texas-based trio who combined elements of bluegrass, hard country and old time music with the energy of punk. During the 90s, the Bad Livers recorded six critically acclaimed albums of predominately original music, most of which was composed by Barnes, and performed over 1,000 shows worldwide. Barnes left his native Texas for the Seattle area in 1997, and has since teamed up with a variety of stellar musicians to record a number of innovative CDs, including Things I Done Wrong, The Willies, and Dirt on the Angel.

Laura Boosinger is an award-winning performer and recording artist whose primary focus is the interpretation of traditional music from the Southern Appalachian region. Through an introduction to several traditional instruments and vocal styles found throughout the region, from ballads to play-parties, old-time banjo to finger-style autoharp, Laura invites audiences to participate in the richness of the region's musical heritage. Her teaching of old-time banjo has been featured at many traditional music camps including The Swannanoa Gathering, Blue Ridge Old-Time Music Week and the Augsta Heritage Workshops. Laura's work was also featured in Mel Bay's Banjo 2000.

Paul Brown spent years learning music directly from some of the last fiddle, banjo, and guitar players to emerge before the age of radio and recordings, including banjoist and fiddler Tommy Jarrell, banjoist Gilmer Woodruff, guitarists and singers Paul Sutphin and Fields Ward, fiddlers Robert Sykes and Luther Davis, and mandolinist Verlen Clifton. He has played since 1978 with fiddler Benton Flippen, and he has been a member of numerous ensembles, including the Bent Mountain Band with Andy Cahan and Mike Seeger, Benton Flippen & the Smokey Valley Boys, Robert Sykes & the Surry County Boys, and the Toast String Stretchers. Paul has been on the staff at music camps across the country since the early 1970s - from the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Washington, to Pinewoods in Massachusetts. His most recent appearances on CD are "Way Down In North Carolina" with Mike Seeger, "Benton Flippen: Old Time, New Times," and "Blue Ridge Mountain Holiday: The Breaking Up Christmas Story."

Clarke Buehling is probably the foremost living exponent of "minstrel" and "classic" banjo -- the two 19th-century banjo styles that served as the ancestors of present-day clawhammer and bluegrass, respectively. His repertoire therefore includes rags, marches, and galops along with jigs, reels, and old time songs. Clarke's career has been many-faceted. Not only is he a prominent soloist and leader of the Skirtlifters stringband, but he is a historian of American banjo music, the founder of the American Banjo Fraternity Orchestra, and an early advocate for reviving interest in the gourd banjo. He has taught at the Ozark Folk Center, Tennessee Banjo Institute, the Maryland Banjo Academy and the Augusta Heritage Festival. Some of his recordings are "Beuhling Banjos," "Out of His Gourd," and "Wait for the Wagon."

Greg Canote and Jere Canote The Canote Brothers from Seattle, WA, are as renowned for their affable attitudes and humor as they are for their music. Greg on fiddle, and Jere on guitar, and both on banjo ukes, perform zany concerts, play for dances, lead songs, and promote a good time! The twin brothers started singing soon after they were born and haven't closed their mouths since. They spent their early years in California's Sacramento Valley, inventing songs with their father at the piano and tagging along with their parents' folk and square dance group. They honed their skills performing in many bands and discovered old-time music in the mid 1970s. In 1978 they attended the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA, and eventually became frequent teachers there. After touring the country with dance caller and singer Sandy Bradley for four years, they returned to the Northwest for a thirteen year stint on Seattle's National Public Radio show, "Sandy Bradley's Potluck," as Sandy's affable side-kicks. The rigors of finding new material for a weekly radio show kept the twins on their toes, mining and performing gems of American music of the past as well as writing new songs in those styles.

Janet Davis was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Music was always an integral part of her family life. Although Janet's formal musical training was primarily in the classical field, she showed a keen, early interest in stringed instruments, particularly those involved in folk and bluegrass music. In college, she played the guitar and sang as a folk and blues musician in many of the Austin, Texas clubs, learning from such greats as Lightnin' Hopkins, Janis Joplin and others who played the same venues. Janet is equally adept on both Dobro® and 5-string banjo. Her books are popular worldwide. She has written numerous best selling books for the 5-string banjo as well as dobro. Mel Bay has several of her books listed as "Best Sellers." Janet also teaches and plays ALL bluegrass instruments and several others. She has been a columnist with Banjo Newsletter for 27 years. Janet Davis Music Company is celebrating its 28th Anniversary this year.

Bill Evans is well-known within the bluegrass banjo world as a player and teacher. A former member of Dry Branch Fire Squad, Bill currently tours nationally with Peter Rowan, John Reischman, Tony Trischka, and with his solo historical concert The Banjo in America. In addition, he writes a monthly instructional column for Banjo Newsletter and has produced instructional books and videos with Sonny Osborne and J.D. Crowe for AcuTab Publications and Homespun Tapes. He has taught at the Augusta Heritage Center, Camp Bluegrass, and Nashcamp bluegrass instructional camps.

David Keenan is no stranger to music. Performing since the age of 12 and teaching since he was 17, David has turned a love of music into a full-time career that has seen him share the stage with the likes of Bill Monroe, Bela Fleck, and even Garrison Keilor. David's proficiency on several instruments; banjo, guitar, and mandolin, landed him a job with Sugar Hill recording artists Ranch Romance with whom he recorded 3 albums and toured for 5 years playing over 100 shows a year throughout the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. David is currently a member of several bands in his native city of Seattle and plays and tours regularly. He is also a fine composer, having licensed many songs to background music giant Muzak; as well as being a record producer, session player, and gifted teacher, having taught at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and The British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop in Sorrento, BC since 2001.

Bill Keith: A renowned explorer of the frontiers of banjo picking and of the instrument's harmonic potentialities, Bill Keith largely invented the three-finger picking style known as "melodic" banjo. He first came to international attention in the early 60s when he played and recorded with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. He co-authored the original Earl Scruggs banjo instruction book and record, and has also written several other banjo instruction books, including the first ones ever published in French and Italian. He has recorded several albums for Rounder, Green Linnet, and Hexagon, and has toured widely throughout North America, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia. He devised and, through the Beacon Banjo Company, still markets the famous tuning pegs that bear his name.

Peter Langston seems to play anything with strings on it (even the banjo!), and is equally adept at backup and hot improvisation. He has played in bands on both the East Coast (Metropolitan Opry, Wretched Refuse) and the West Coast (Puddle City, Entropy Service, Portland Zoo), and has performed with such notables as Doc Watson, Reverend Gary Davis, Tony Trischka, Peter Rowan, Alison Brown, and Mike Seeger. Peter has led a double life as a musician and a computer whiz and has taught both audio recording and computer science at the college level. Peter has been a frequent member of the staff of various music and dance camps, including the California Coast Music Camp, Sierra Swing, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Alta Sierra, and the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, which he helps run.

Brad Leftwich is the author of the Mel Bay book Round Peak Style Clawhammer Banjo. Best known as a fiddler, Brad has in fact been playing banjo longer. He first took it up more than thirty years ago, inspired by his grandfather, a banjo picker from Carroll County, Va., and by his father, a singer and guitar player in the old-time style. Brad has learned much of his music from traditional musicians in the region formed by Surry County, N.C., and Grayson and Carroll Counties, Va., and in particular from Tommy Jarrell and other banjo players from the Round Peak community of Surry County. He was a member of the Plank Road String Band in the mid-seventies, toured with Leftwich & Higginbotham throughout the eighties and nineties, and now performs with Tom Sauber and Alice Gerrard as Tom, Brad, & Alice.

Ned Luberecki has been teaching and playing bluegrass banjo for over 25 years, having been part of Paul Adkins' Borderline Band, Radio Flyer, the Gary Ferguson Band, and the Rarely Herd (the latter won SPBGMA's Entertaining Band of the Year award several times). Ned has appeared on recordings with Paul Adkins' Borderline Band, the Rarely Herd, Jim Hurst, Bull Harman, and New Strings. Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has declared, "Ned's banjo captures that killer tone and technique banjo players die for." Now residing in Nashville, he is the banjoist for the Chris Jones Coalition and the Apocalyptic Cowboys, teaches private lessons at World Music Nashville, and is a fill-in radio personality on Sirius Radio's Bluegrass channel. His uncomplicated teaching style and fresh, wacky sense of humor has made him a favorite at music camps and workshops, such as NashCamp, Camp Bluegrass, and the Maryland Banjo Academy.

Michael Miles: is renowned in the clawhammer world for his for his sparkling versions of Bach cello suites and his adventurous original compositions. A dedicated music-educator, he served from 1984-98 as Program Director at Chicago¹s Old Town School of Folk Music; during which time he developed and expanded an old-time banjo program that ultimately served hundreds students. Michael has written, directed and performed in a number of critically acclaimed musical plays which feature the banjo prominently, including The Magic Banjo, American Songbag, How Africa Met Ireland in American Song, and Chicago Rhythm & Rhymes. His latest CDs include "American Bach," "Magic Banjo," and "New Century Suite."

Ken Perlman: Perhaps the best-known exponent of the "melodic" clawhammer style, Ken is known where-ever banjos are played as a master of clawhammer technique and an expert teacher of clawhammer mechanics. He has been a Banjo Newsletter columnist for 20 years; he has written several books on clawhammer instruction including the well known works Melodic Clawhammer Banjo and Clawhammer Style Banjo, he has recorded several series of audio and video banjo instruction, and he has taught at well over a dozen music camps including the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Common Ground on the Hill, and the Tennessee Banjo Institute.

Laura Smith was born and raised in Hawaii, surrounded by the music of the islands, her Dad's piano and tenor banjo playing, and the rich harmonies of the church choir. She started playing old time banjo in 1973 when she attended the Sweet's Mill Music Camp in California and was introduced to a wide range of live traditional music. She has been playing and singing ever since. Laura sang with Larry Hanks for many years, and together they toured Great Britain. She has taught classes at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop for 18 summers. Classes have included banjo, guitar, song repertoire, and hula. She has also taught at the Georgia Strait Guitar Workshop. Laura has been a public school teacher for the last 17 years and uses music daily in her classroom.