-
Joseph Bonsall
Plays:
The first banjo music that I ever heard was as a kid. That strange Philadelphia phenomenon called the String Band, as in MUMMERS. (See my essay, A Trip Back Home at josephsbonsall.com.) One hundred guys wearing feathers and strumming banjos is quite an assault and, although I got a kick out of the pomp and fun of these groups as a child, I never aspired to put on a pair of purple tights and a headdress and march down Market Street strumming my brains out.
www.josephsbonsall.com
-
Zac Brown
Plays:
After an eventful year on the charts and on the road, GRAMMY-Award winning Zac Brown Band has proven that "overnight success" can be years in the making. New fans drawn by the irresistible hit singles, the awe-inspiring musicianship and dynamic live shows might have thought the Zac Brown Band emerged from nowhere. In fact, the band has paid its dues for years and put in its time for just this moment, it may have happened quickly, but it's definitely built to last.
www.zacbrownband.com
-
Al Caldwell
Plays:
Al Caldwell, a native of St. Louis, is a multi-instrumentalist whose vibrant style and energy bring his music to life. Producer, songwriter of over 1500 tunes, bass player for Vanessa Williams Band, and Deering Crossfire banjo player....Al brings his enthusiastic and innovative approach to all of these talents.
He joined the Vanessa Williams Band in 1997 and his first performance was for the Prince of Monaco. On returning to the US, they performed on the David Letterman Show and were seen on the top TV shows of the time. The band added Luther Vandross to the lineup and continued to play everywhere from the Hollywood Bowl to New York City's famed Madison Square Garden.
Like many in 2002, Al saw the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" and was inspired by the soundtrack to play banjo. His great-grandfather had played the instrument. Moved by the African origins of the banjo and the lack of African American artists playing the instrument, he formed The Travelin Black Hillbilly's Band to a new African American influence to banjo music.www.tbhillbilly.com
-
Ashley Campbell
Plays:
Ashley Campbell grew up in Phoenix, Arizona but now calls Los Angeles home. When Ashley was cast in a play set in old Kentucky, the director asked her if she could learn to play the banjo for the show. She agreed, having always wanted to learn the banjo and instantly fell in love with the 5-string and bluegrass. Since then, she has been on several world tours with her father, Glen Campbell, (including Australia, New Zealand, the UK and all over the United States) as his banjo player/keyboardist and whenever she passes through Nashville while on tour, she studies banjo with her godfather, Carl Jackson. Ashley also plays in an up and coming band called Instant People with her two brothers, incorporating the banjo into an indie/pop vibe.
-
The Dance Hall Pimps
Plays:
Los Angeles-based Dance Hall Pimps first performed publicly in January 2010 and by September of that year had offers from two record labels. Their genre-bending rootsy garage rock smeared with a haunting swampy vibe and powered by dramatic lead vocals is at once original and accessible. Rock, Country, and Americana audiences all seem to respond to the high-energy fun of the Dance Hall Pimps. Lead singer RJC plucks, picks, and saws his acoustic/electric Classic Goodtime Two Plectrum on rock songs as well as New Orleans-style rags and romps in the DHP repertoire. In addition to banjo, the band layers saxophone, organ, and occasionally piano, clarinet, flute, and trumpet over a basic rock trio of guitars and drums. The band includes notable musicians Jeff Jourard (The Motels) and Steve Carr (featured soloist on Buddy Collette's Grammy® Nominated “Big Band in Concert” album). Their debut LP Beast for Love is on Lakeshore Records (release date March 6, 2012)
www.dancehallpimps.com
-
Jeff DaRosa
Plays:
Now in their 14th year the Dropkick Murphys have risen from their basic Irish-punk roots to become a rocking & rolling, raging, green-clover machine. Dropkick Murphys are now one of the best-known rock bands in the world, thanks in part to their ability to tap into the working-class and sports fan culture that permeates Boston and the New England area but even more so due to their reputation for phenomenal live shows. Each year the band breaks house records when their live shows celebrating St. Patrick¹s Day go on sale. These shows are the peak of the band¹s touring calendar and every year fans from all over the world travel to Boston just for a chance to become part of this unique experience. In 2003 the band released a live album that has so far sold over a quarter of a million copies worldwide.
www.dropkickmurphys.com
-
Joe Satriani
Plays:
Since his guitar skills often sound like they come from another planet, its no wonder that Joe Satriani seems the ideal person to ponder Is There Love in Space? Joining such Satriani classics as Not of This Earth and Surfing With the Alien, his latest Epic Records endeavor further explores his extra-terrestrial mastery of the instrument - albeit while working in a more comfortably grounded environment.
www.satriani.com
-
Rod Stewart
Plays:
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy™ Living Legend Rod Stewart has been lauded as having one of the most distinctive voices in pop music. The success of the "Great American Songbook" albums, which began in 2001 with It Had to Be You..., is truly unprecedented; it is the biggest selling ongoing series of new music recordings in history, with over seventeen million copies sold worldwide.
www.rodstewart.com
-
Taylor Swift
Plays:
2011 CMA artist of the year, Taylor Swift, has had a very accomplished career. A native of Pennsylvania, Taylor's family relocated to Nashville in 2005, when she was 14. She has worked diligently to hone her craft and her career has received countless awards along the way. Just a few are listed below: 1. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. 2. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. 3. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. 4. On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. Taylor has written many songs, making them deliberately autobiographical. She said of her songs, "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." The repeated success of her music is a strong affirmation of the decision she has chosen to take. Featured on a number of magazine covers and having been a featured artist on video and television, Taylor's career has branched into all aspects of the music industry and beyond.
www.taylorswift.com/
-
Keith Urban
Plays:
Multi-instrumentalist, New Zealand born Keith Urban was raised in Australia. Though best known for his acoustic and electric guitar playing, he also plays 6-string banjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, sitar, bousouki and drums. In 1992 Keith moved to America, worked briefly as a session guitarist in Nashville before founding his first band called The Ranch. From 1999 forward, he has had a string of hit singles and albums, and in 2002 he won his first Grammy Award for "You'll Think of Me" from his "Golden Road" album under the Capitol Record label. In 2001 he won the Top New Male VocalistAward at the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Associations Horizon Award. For Keith Urban’s sixth studio album, Get Closer, the singer-songwriter dives even deeper into the explorations of love and relationships that have established him as one of the world's biggest country music stars—while also extending his rock & roll side, as his hard-charging guitar work reaches new heights. The album is the follow-up to 2009's Grammy-winning and platinum selling Defying Gravity, which entered Billboard's pop and country charts at Number One, and spun off five Top Ten hits, including the chart-toppers "Sweet Thing" and "Only You Can Love Me This Way."
www.keithurban.net
-
Jim West
Plays:
Best known for his work with the "Weird Al" Yankovic Band, guitarist Jim West is also a composer of TV and film and has produced a number of CDs for independent artists. The Toronto, Canada, born West grew up in Tampa, FL, and started playing the guitar at age 12. He currently divides his time between Los Angeles and Hawaii and has released 4 slack-key guitar albums. Jim was first exposed to slack-key (also known in the islands as ki ho 'alu) in 1985 while on hiatus from a "Weird Al" tour. Jim "Kimo" West now brings his own musical heritage to his original slack key instrumentals. His style has been described as "nahenahe", meaning "soft, sweet or gentle voice", a fusion of old and new but still rooted deeply in tradition. A virtuosic player and prolific composer, his delicate, heartfelt playing technique and his generous output of new, exciting slack key guitar originals puts him solidly in a category of his own.
www.jimkimowest.com
