Playing Since: 2012
Experience Level: Novice

Interests:
[Jamming] [Socializing]

Occupation: Retired

Gender: Male
Age: 73

My Instruments:
2012 Deering Good Time Banjo
2014 Gold Star GF-100W Banjo
1991 Martin Custom (pre-war D-28)
1977 Mossman Great Plains


Favorite Bands/Musicians:
John Hartford
Doc Watson
Pete Seeger
Steve Martin
Jerry Garcia
Earl Scruggs
John McCutcheon
Pete Wernick
Bela Fleck

Classified Rating: not rated
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Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 9/17/2012
Last Visit 4/14/2025

I had heard bluegrass music all my life off and on. My pa would listen to traditional western swing, country, bluegrass, anything that had a good tune to it and I listened as well. I went through the typical rebellious rock n' roll stage as required by my generation but then during the early 1970's a rock n' roll friend of mine had just discovered the one thing that linked the hippies to the bluegrass scene. He had a copy of John Hartford’s Aereo-Plain album that we listened to non-stop. I was amazed. I had never heard of Norman Blake, Tut Tyler, or Vassar Clements at the time but I knew this was a breakthrough. I bought my own copy. When Morning Bugle came out I bought it as well. Now I was really hooked. By the late 1980’s I found myself in Texas with a cheap guitar, a friend who showed me all the wrong stuff about playing it, and a six-pack of beer. We’d play every Thursday night for about 3 years and I picked up a lot of bad habits. In 1993 I went to the Walnut Valley Festival for the first time. I retired and moved to a farm outside of Winfield, Kansas in 2010. I picked up a banjo and have been picking on it for a while. I mostly flat pick my guitar and pick Scruggs style on the banjo. Neither very well. I just do it for the fun of playing.