We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue, we will assume that you agree to our privacy policy which includes details of cookie usage. Hide this notice

Tom Hanway View Teacher Profile You must sign into your myHangout account in order to contact Tom Hanway.

With the publication of Complete Book of Irish & Celtic 5-String Banjo (1988), Hanway has been pioneering Celtic fingerstyle banjo. Bluegrass Unlimited wrote in January 1999: “What Earl Scruggs’ book did for bluegrass banjo, Tom Hanway’s book may well do for the 5-string in Irish and Celtic music, and will certainly become regarded as ‘the bible’ for any 5-string player with an interest in this joyous music.” This is a Mel Bay best-seller and has won Tom many converts on both sides of the Atlantic. 20 O'Carolan Irish Classics (2015) is Hanway's fourth collection demonstrating Celtic fingerstyle banjo in G tuning. It is part of a Celtic 5-string series that includes Mel Bay's Easy Irish and Celtic Tunes for 5-String Banjo: Best-Loved Jigs and Reels (2012) and Mel Bay's Easy Irish and Celtic Melodies for 5-String Banjo: Best-Loved Airs and Session Tunes (2013). In 1997 Hanway teamed up with banjo manufacturer Geoff Stelling to co-design the Stelling SwallowTail Deluxe and Standard banjo, a production model instrument. The SwallowTail has become a popular model for Stelling, used for bluegrass, Celtic and other styles of music, with actor Steve Martin purchasing one true to Tom's original model. Tom Hanway is a musical shape-shifter, a veteran of many styles of music who feels blessed to be working in life with other like-minded artists at something that he loves. Tom loves to teach, collect tunes from all over, and he regularly travels back and forth between Ireland and the United States playing and collecting tunes. Discography Bucket of Bees (Joyous Gard Records, 1991) Tom Hanway & Blue Horizon (Joyous Gard Records, 1992) Burnt Toast (Joyous Gard Records, 1996) Mel Bay's Complete Book of Irish & Celtic 5-String Banjo (1998) Grillbillies Album, Volumes 1 and 2 (Yee Haw Records, 1999) The Badbelly Project: Hesitation Blues (Joyous Gard Records, 2005) Mel Bay's Easy Irish and Celtic Session Tunes for 5-String Banjo: Best-Loved Jigs and Reels (2012) Mel Bay's Easy Irish and Celtic Melodies for 5-String Banjo: Best-Loved Airs and Session Tunes (2013) Mel Bay's 20 O'Carolan Irish Classics for 5-String Banjo and All Instruments (2015)