- Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe developed the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. He is often referred to as "the father of bluegrass." Monroe was born in Rosine, Kentucky. His father, James Buchanan Monroe, was a well-to-do farmer while his mother, Melissa Ann Van Diver, … - Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is a renowned American bluegrass-country singer and fiddle player. She entered the music industry at a young age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time on her brother's album at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album at sixteen in 1987. She was invited to join the band with which she still performs, … - Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs (born July 18 1954, in Lawrence County, Kentucky) is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He plays fiddle, guitar, banjo, and, primarily, mandolin. Skaggs' music career began in 1970 when he joined Ralph Stanley's famous bluegrass band, the Clinch Mountain Boys. For a few years, Skaggs was a member of Emmylou Harris's group, Hot Band. He wrote the arrangements for Harris's bluegrass-roots album, "Roses in the Snow". - Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson, born March 3, 1923 in Deep Gap, North Carolina, is a guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. According to Doc on his three CD biographical recording "Legacy", he got the nickname "Doc" during a live radio broadcast when the announcer remarked that his given name Arthel was odd and he needed an easy nickname to go by. - Ralph Stanley
Ralph Stanley (born February 25, 1927) is an American bluegrass musician. Stanley was born in Big Spraddle Creek, Virginia, near Stratton, Dickenson County, Virginia, USA. The son of Lucy and Lee Stanley, Ralph Edmond Stanley grew up in rural southwestern Virginia. Stanley learned to play the banjo, claw-hammer, style from his mother. It was her inspiration, coupled with Stanley's natural ability, which led Ralph and his older guitar-playing brother Carter, … - Sam Bush
Sam Bush (b. April 13 1952 in Bowling Green, Kentucky) is an American mandolin player. As well as being an accomplished bluegrass vocalist, Bush also is a capable instrumentalist on guitar and fiddle. He was a founding member of the New Grass Revival and has been called a modern day Bill Monroe. Sam is one of the main attractions at the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colorado. - Tony Rice
Tony Rice is an acoustic guitarist. Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced "Spacegrass" music, to songwriter-oriented folk. Over the course of his career, he has played alongside J. D. Crowe and the New South, David Grisman (during the formation of “Dawg Music”), led his own Tony Rice Unit, collaborated with Norman Blake and recorded with his brothers. He has recorded with drums, piano, soprano sax, … - David Grisman
David Grisman is an acclaimed mandolin player. As a teenager, David met and studied with mandolinist/folklorist, Ralph Rinzler. He learned to play the mandolin in the style of Bill Monroe , the father of bluegrass music. David studied English at NYU and became immersed in the proliferating folk music scene in Greenwich Village in the early 1960's. - Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas is an American Dobro player. He is often referred to as "flux" by his peers, a nickname given to him as a result of his ability to play at amazing speeds with the slide. In addition to his eleven solo releases and countless special projects, Douglas' stellar fretwork has graced over 1000 albums encompassing a dizzying range of musical styles. As a sideman, he's recorded with artists as diverse as Ray Charles, Peter Rowan, Béla Fleck, … - Rhonda Vincent
Rhonda Vincent is an American bluegrass singer and an accomplished mandolin, guitar and fiddle player. She was born July 13, 1962, in Kirksville, Missouri, United States, where she still lives. Her musical career started as a child in her family's band, The Sally Mountain Show, and has spanned almost four decades. She achieved success in the bluegrass genre in the 1970s and '80s, … - Keller Williams
Keller Williams (also known as K-Dub is a musician from Fredericksburg, Virginia who began performing in the early 1990’s. Keller (as he is referred to by his fans) is best known for his innovative live shows and unconventional playing style. A self taught musician, he usually performs with an acoustic guitar connected to Gibson Echoplex Delay system. - Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch (born October 2 1967 in New York City) is a singer-songwriter whose musical style combines elements of bluegrass, neotraditional country, Americana, old time string band music and folk into a rustic style that she dubs "American Primitive". All of her recordings feature the close-harmonies and unconventional guitar work of her musical partner, David Rawlings. Her music is often described as haunting or soothing. - Doyle Lawson
Doyle Lawson is an American bluegrass musician. He was born on April 20, 1944 in Ford Town, Sullivan County, Tennessee, near Kingsport, the son of Leonard and Minnie Lawson. Doyle Lawson is best known as an accomplished mandolin player and leader of the 5-man group Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver which he formed in April, 1979. Prior to that, he was a member of the Country Gentlemen and of J.D. Crowe's New South. - Tim O'Brien
Tim O'Brien (b. March 16 1954 in Wheeling, West Virginia) is an American bluegrass musician. O'Brien plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki and mandocello and is an accomplished vocalist. He moved to Boulder, Colorado in the 1970s and became part of the music scene there. In 1978, he founded the bluegrass group Hot Rize. Hot Rize had its own ofshoot band called Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers. The band would walk off stage, change clothes, … - Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954 in Williamsburg, Virginia) is an American singer, pianist, accordion player, and songwriter. Known for the spontaneity and creativity of his live performances, Hornsby draws frequently from classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, motown, rock, blues, and jam band musical traditions with his songwriting and the seamless improvisations contained within. - Peter Rowan
Peter Rowan (b. July 4 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. Rowan plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings. While in high school in 1956, Rowan formed the Tex-Mex group The Cupids, which became locally famous. They self-released a single. In 1963, he joined the Mother Bay State Entertainers and played mandolin on their record, The String Band Project. - John Hartford
John Cowan Hartford (December 30 1937- June 4 2001) was an American folk, country and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore. Hartford performed with a variety of ensembles throughout his career, and is perhaps best known for his solo performances where he would interchange the guitar, banjo, and fiddle from song to song. - Kathy Mattea
Kathy Mattea, full name Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959, in South Charleston, West Virginia), is a female country music and bluegrass performer who often brings celtic sounds to her music, particularly with her release of "Love Travels", one of her most critically popular albums. - Dan Tyminski
Dan Tyminski (b. June 20, 1967) is a bluegrass composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist. He is a member of the band "Alison Krauss and Union Station" and has released a solo album entitled "Carry Me Across the Mountain" (2000) on the Doobie Shea Records label. He is likely best known for the song "Man of Constant Sorrow," which was featured in the movie "O Brother, … - Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass". Born James H. Martin in Sneedville, Tennessee, beginning in 1949 Martin was lead vocalist for Bill Monroe's "Bluegrass Boys,". Martin's high voice mixed with Monroe's tenor came to be known as the "high lonesome" sound. His influence radically changed Monroe's music from the fast-paced but smooth style of the "original" 1945 band with Flatt and Scruggs. - Phil Lesh
Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California) is a musician and founding member of the rock band, Grateful Dead; he played bass guitar in that group throughout their entire 30-year career. Lesh started out as a trumpet player with a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College (classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, … - Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark (born 15 April 1933, Meherrin, Virginia) is a versatile and well-known country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting one of the first nationally televised country variety shows in the United States, "Hee Haw" from 1969 - 1992. Clark has been an iconic figure in country music, both as a musician and as a popularizer of country music. Clark is an entertainer, most of all, with an amiable personality and a telegenic presence. - Norman Blake
Norman Blake (born March 10, 1938 in Chattanooga, Tennessee)) is a Grammy-nominated instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter who has played in a number of folk and bluegrass groups. When Norman was one year old, his family moved to Sulphur Springs, Georgia where he was raised. Although known as one of the most prominent acoustic guitar flatpickers of his day, Norman Blake is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. - Hazel Dickens
Hazel Dickens (born June 1, 1935, Mercer County, West Virginia) is an American bluegrass singer. She was the eighth child of an eleven-child mining family in West Virginia. Her music is characterized by not only her "high lonesome" singing style, but also by her provocative pro-union, feminist songs. Poverty drove the Dickens to move to the Baltimore, Maryland area when Dickens was nineteen. - Laurie Lewis
Laurie Lewis (born September 28, 1950 in Long Beach, California), is an American bluegrass musician. In the mid-1970s, she cofounded the Good Ol' Persons, an all-female bluegrass band with Kathy Kallick. In 1979 she founded the Grant Street String Band, also including Beth Weil, Tom Bekeny, Greg Townsend, and Steve Krouse, in which her own songwriting came to the forefront. In the late '80s, she formed "Laurie Lewis and Grant Street". - Mike Marshall
Mike Marshall is a mandolin player and has been an instrumental part of new acoustic music for the past 25 years. He has performed and recorded with many musicians in a variety of styles, including bluegrass, classical, jazz and Brazilian music. In addition to several instruments in the mandolin family, Marshall also plays the guitar and violin. Marshall has recorded and toured with other contemporary acoustic musicians such as David Grisman, Tony Rice, Mark O'Connor, … - Edgar Meyer
Edgar Meyer (born November 24, 1960) is a prominent contemporary bassist. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. Meyer has worked as a session musician in Nashville, part of various chamber groups, a composer, and an arranger. - David Bromberg
David Bromberg (b. September 19 1945 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American guitarist. Bromberg has an eclectic style, playing bluegrass, blues, folk, country and western, and rock & roll equally well. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics. He has played with Jerry Jeff Walker and Bob Dylan, and is the co-writer, with former Beatle George Harrison, of the song The Holdup. He currently lives in Wilmington, Delaware where he owns a violin sales and repair shop, … - Bryan Sutton
Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a virtuoso flatpicked acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays many other instruments including mandolin, banjo, and electric guitar. Sutton first came to prominence as part of Ricky Skaggs' bluegrass band Kentucky Thunder. Sutton eventually left the band to focus on session work. He has become a first-call Nashville session player due to his fluency in multiple music styles and his mastery of the guitar. - Pete Wernick
Peter Wernick, also known by many as “Dr. Banjo”, has been involved in the bluegrass music scene for over three decades. He has played with Country Cooking, Hot Rize (with Tim O'Brien, Charles Sawtelle, and Nick Forster) and is currently performing with the bluegrass/jazz combo FLEXIGRASS. He also tours with his wife Joan (Dr. and Nurse Banjo) and with Hot Rize for an occasional reunion. - Claire Lynch
Claire Lynch is a American bluegrass singer, songwriter, and session vocalist who joined her first band, then called Hickory Wind, in 1973. After changing its name to the Front Porch String Band, the group worked regularly throughout the Southeast over the next several years, becoming fan favorites on the strength of its open-minded musical approach and lead singer. Lynch and her family lived in Poughkeepsie, New York until the age of 12, … - Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks (born 1947) is a Bluegrass musician and guitarist. He was the winner of the 2004 and 2005 IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year Award. - Alison Brown
Alison Brown is an American banjo player. Brown learned to play guitar at eight and banjo at ten. When she was twelve, she met fiddler Stuart Duncan. In the summer of 1978, Brown traveled across the country with Duncan and his father, playing festivals and contests. She won first place at the Canadian National Banjo Championship, which helped her land a one-night gig at the Grand Ole Opry. In 1980, Brown went to Harvard, where she studied history and literature. - Daniel Grayling Fogelberg
It's one of his earliest memories: He's four years old, standing up on a box in front of his father's big band, baton in hand, conducting. Though his dad stood behind him, doing the real work, for Dan it was a foreshadowing of what his life would be -- following in his father's footsteps to become the leader of the band. "It was an amazing feeling," he declared decades later during a series of discussions for these notes. "To be immersed in music. - Mindy Smith
Mindy Smith (born June 1, 1972 in Long Island, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has a broad appeal and can be classified as all of the following: folk, country, americana, bluegrass, pop, rock, and even alternative. Her voice and music has been compared to that of Patty Griffin and Alison Krauss. - Mike Auldridge
Mike Auldridge is widely acknowledged as a premier resophonic guitar (the instrument formerly referred to as a Dobro) player. He played with The Seldom Scene for many years, creating a fusion of bluegrass with jazz, folk and rock. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1938, Auldridge started playing guitar at the age of 13. His main influence through his early years was Josh Graves who also sold him his first Dobro. A 1967 graduate of The University of Maryland, … - David Rawlings
David Rawlings is a professional guitarist. He is best known as the longtime musical partner of bluegrass singer-songwriter Gillian Welch. He is also known in his own right as a producer, having produced Welch and bands such as Old Crow Medicine Show. He has recently performed under the billing of "The Dave Rawlings Machine". He has also contributed to the Bright Eyes album "Cassadaga", the Ryan Adams album "Heartbreaker", … - Robbie Fulks
Robbie Fulks is an American alternative country artist originally from Raleigh, North Carolina but who is a longtime Chicago, Illinois resident. Fulks is known for his disdain of mainstream modern country and the country music industry, as exemplified by his scorching rebuke of Nashville titled "Fuck This Town." His live performances feature improvised rearrangments of his original songs, off-the-cuff musical humor, and covers of songs by Michael Jackson and Cher, … - David Grier
David Grier is an American acoustic guitarist. He is considered to be one of the premier flatpicking guitarists in the world. His unique phrasing and his ability to create multiple variations on a theme are hallmarks of his playing style. Grier grew up in a very musical household. Grier's father, Lamar, was a banjo player in Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe's band for a number of years. Roland White was a major musical influence on the young Grier, and helped him learn to play. - Casey Driessen
Casey Christopher Driessen is an American bluegrass fiddler and singer. He plays acoustic and electric five-string violins, each of which has an additional low C string. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Matt Glaser. He has performed with Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Steve Earle, Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott, Jim Lauderdale, Lee Ann Womack, Mark Schatz, John Doyle, and Chris Thile. He has recorded with Darol Anger, John Mayer, …
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