Presents: A Banjo Revolution…
What’s new in Banjos?
The Dynamics of Great Sound

Phase One – Want a Revolution?
Nechville is leading the “Banjo Revolution” into new territory with his unique designs for acoustic and electric banjos. Tom will have several instruments on display for you to jam with and Tom will perform some music accompanied by local players. You’ll see inside the Nechville mechanism and learn what makes Helical-Mounting so special.

Phase Two – Conventional Banjo Setup
Go beyond standard banjo setup conventions and learn what really makes the banjo sound its best.

Tom will uncover secrets about traditional banjos and divulge solutions to common banjo problems.

Tom may invite one or more attendees to receive a free set-up during the class. He will cover the essentials of set up and explain how his designs simplify the process of setup and maintenance.

Phase Three – Banjo Dynamics
For serious players and builders who require ultimate performance from their banjo, Tom enters into the new territory of alternative materials for tone chamber construction. He also explains what he has learned about the effect of wood and alternate materials on banjo tone.

Tom Nechville has been in business since 1989, manufacturing professional banjos and related accessories. His patented Helimount frame, adjustable neck attachment, beveled armrest, and compensated Enterprise bridges are setting the professional standard for players worldwide. His book, The Dynamics of Banjo Sound is a definitive guide for banjo set up.

Nechville Musical Products is always innovating to meet the changing needs of modern musicians. Nechville’s refined acoustic and electric banjo designs have helped direct a new worldwide spotlight on the banjo.

Web Links Nechville Musical Products: www.nechville.com Banjo Revolution: www.banjorev.com Dynamics of Banjo Sound Workshop: www.nechville.com/workshop.html Products for Sale Exclusive inventory of Fine Banjos, Armrests, Straps, Pickups, Enterprise Bridges, Parts, and Dynamics of Banjo sound Book.

Contact- e-mail, tom@nechville.com Phone 952-888-9710 or Cell 612-275-6602

For more information about Tom, visit: https://Nechville.com

Most recently Terry toured and recorded with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and can be heard on the band’s latest recording on Rounder Records, “More Behind The Picture Than The Wall”. His professional career started in 1970 with Charlie Moore. He was a founding member of Boone Creek with Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas, as well as an original member of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver & IIIrd Tyme Out.

Terry is currently working on a solo CD with many surprises.

For more information about Terry visit:

https://www.myspace.com/kneedeepinbluegrass.

Steve Curry plays almost 200 shows a year with the award winning Gypsy Jazz meets Western Swing band-” The Texas Gypsies”! www.texasgypsies.com… He started touring full time on the road at the age of 19 and a year later he ended up in Los Angeles and studied various guitar styles at the Musicians Institute. While living in LA, he toured or recorded with such diverse artists as The Jacksons, Boney James, Jeff Buckley. He also has played on many TV and Film tracks and has produced and or played on over 50 CD’s for local and national artists!

www.texasgypsies.com

Shawn Lane – One of the most affecting singers in the business, Shawn cut his musical teeth in the bands of Ricky Skaggs (who expressed a special regard for his tenor singing) and Doyle Lawson, before joining Blue Highway as a founding member.

A brilliant musician on mandolin, fiddle, and guitar, he is also a world-class songwriter. Shawn’s songwriting is strongly represented in the Blue Highway repertoire; four of the 12 songs on Blue Highway’s latest release, Through the Window of a Train, were penned by him, including the powerful “Sycamore Hollow”, deemed “a standout” by Billboard magazine, and “Where Did the Morning Go”, hailed by critics as an album highlight and described as “hypnotic” by the Smoky Mountain News. “Born With A Hammer in my Hand,” co-written with Tim Stafford, was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2000 IBMA Awards. (Click on the Lyrics links on the Music page for details of Lane’s contributions to the Blue Highway discography.) His compositions have also been recorded by Ricky Skaggs, Ronnie Bowman, Mountain Heart, Blue Ridge and others. Check out his great solo record, All for Today, released by Rebel in 2003. Shawn Lane ‘s signature instrument is the Dearstone Shawn Lane Model Mandolin.

For more information about Shawn, visit: BlueHighwayBand.com.

Born in Virginia and raised a Texan, Randy has played guitar for over 40 years. Music was in his family at an early age with a mix of Texas Swing, Bluegrass and popular acoustic performers. He played in the Dallas/Austin area with his own group, RedEye, in the ‘80’s and 90’s and played with The Greencards in ’02 and ’03 while they gained traction in Austin. He was president of the Central Texas Bluegrass Association from 1991-1994. Then, serving as president of The Old Settler’s Music Festival until 2006, he took it to one of the top five of its kind in America. He is a regular attendee/participant in the International Bluegrass Musicians Association’s annual conference serving on panels and workshops. Although known for some occasional hot leads, he is most notably known as a powerful rhythm player. He’s a real workshop pro, and has worked with some of the best musicians in the world in work shops and on stage.

John Hartford once said that Mike Compton knows more about Bill Monroe style mandolin than the Father of Bluegrass himself.

Mike was born in 1956 in Jimmie Rodger’s hometown of Meridian Mississippi. His great grandfather was a fiddler. Mike was exposed to old-time music at an early age and received his first mandolin at the age of 15. He moved to Nashville in 1977 and worked for the next three and a half years with North Carolina legendary banjoist, Hubert Davis and the Season Travelers. He recorded on three of the group’s records. In 1985 he was recruited by Pat Enright for the Nashville Bluegrass Band, and during Compton’s initial stint in the group, 1985-1988, he appeared on the four albums that first brought the band to prominence. After a year working in the Catskill Mountains, Mike returned to Nashville and began working for John Hartford, which he did up until John’s death in 2001. He was involved in Hartford’s last half dozen recordings.

In 1991 Mike began working with the incomparable David Grier, touring the US and Japan. The two recorded a duet album shortly thereafter which was nominated for Album of the Year by the IBMA in 1992.

In the fall of 2000, after a tour of the southwestern US with Grier, Mike was offered his mandolin slot with Nashville Bluegrass Band and he didn’t hesitate to rejoin. The Group has won two Grammy Awards, two Entertainer of the year honors from the International Bluegrass Music Association and four wins as IBMA’s Vocal Group of the Year. They have become the acoustic music group to watch in the new millennium.

The NBB was the first bluegrass group to perform in the People’s Republic of China and has also staged concerts in Egypt, Brazil, Crete, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Qatar, the Azores, Iraq and Israel, not to mention Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Switzerland, Turkey, Japan , Italy, Spain, and England. The group has performed with Lyle Lovett and Mary Chapin Carpenter and performed to a sold out crowd at Carnegie Hall, and backed artists as diverse as Bernadette Peters and Clint Black.

Spring of 2001 led the NBB into a concert series with the Nashville chamber Orchestra which led Mike on a new pursuit of music reading skills and basic music theory and writing.

Mike recently received Grammy Award acknowledgement for playing the mandolin on two award winning projects, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?”,Album of the Year and Best Compilation Soundtrack Album, and “Down From the Mountain”, Best Traditional Folk Album, which included artists such as Dr. Ralph Stanley, Norman and Nancy Blake, Alison Kraus and Union Station, Gillian Welch/David Rawlings, Emmy Lou Harris, The Whites, The Cox Family, The Fairfield Four, Chris Thomas King, NBB, John Hartford, to name a few. He was also part of last year’s sold out “Down From the Mountain” tours which included the original soundtrack cast and Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless, the Del McCoury Band, and Rodney Crowell.

The Mississippi State Senate honored Mike in March of 2002 with State Resolution No. 45 commending his accomplishments. The Resolution was awarded on the Senate floor and shortly thereafter followed by renditions of Bill Monroe’s “Old Ebeneezer Scrooge” and “I’ll Fly Away”, which prompted the senators to sing along.

Mike was featured prominently on Dr. Ralph Stanley’s recent work produced by recording industry legend TBone Burnette. Mike recently participated in the soundtrack for the upcoming movie” Cold Mountain” also produced by Mr. Burnette.

Mike does numerous workshops and music camps throughout the year. He is currently working on material for the tenor guitar, studying country blues mandolin styles and taking fiddle lessons. He is a prolific composer and treasures his memories of a friendship with his mentor, Bill Monroe.

For more information about Mike, visit: https://MikeCompton.net

Kim Platko – Former member of the Cafe Noir, Grammy nominated Gypsy Jazz group.

One can only imagine the number and variety of musical influences Broadway, classical, jazz, rhythm and blues that surrounded Joel as he was growing up in New York City. Like Uwe and Jens, Joel began his musical career early in life, and “picked up” the bass at the age of 12. Like many musicians, Joel began learning music with classical training on the piano. After several years of piano lessons he switched to the bass and decided to devote all of his attention to playing the instrument. Joel has devoted his full attention to the bass ever since he first discovered his love of the instrument.

Destined to find Uwe and Jens, in 1989 Joel moved to Switzerland and began a successful career as a bassist with various country/rock and jazz groups based throughout Europe. It was during this time that he met the Kruger Brothers and developed what would turn into a deeply rewarding musical alliance and friendship. In early 1995, Joel was initiated into the ‘Brotherhood’ and has been performing full time with the band ever since.

For more information about Uwe, visit: https://www.KrugerBrothers.com.

Guitar players may not recognize Joe Carr’s name at first, but his face is probably familiar. That’s because he appears in over 20 instructional guitar videos ranging from country to western swing, bluegrass and even heavy metal! Add to these his videos on mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele and Joe may be the most recorded video music instructor anywhere.

Joe is a self-taught musician originally from Denton, Texas who started guitar at age 13, inspired by the folk musicians of the 1960’s. A few years later, he was hired to play guitar in Alan Munde’s internationally known bluegrass group, Country Gazette. Over the next six years Joe recorded 3 group albums, numerous sideman projects and produced his own critically acclaimed solo guitar album, Otter Nonsense.

Joe left the Country Gazette in 1984 and joined the music faculty in the unique commercial music program at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. He continues to perform in duo with former Gazette leader and South Plains College colleague Alan Munde. “Alan and I have a great artistic communication that leads us into many new areas of music,” Joe says. In addition to two albums on the Flying Fish label, Joe and Alan have published an award-winning book about West Texas Country Music called Prairie Nights to Neon Lights from the Texas Tech University Press. Joe is also a regular columnist for Flatpicking Guitar magazine and writes for several other periodicals as well.

For more information about Joe, visit Joe’s MySpace Page.

At age six, when Jens (Yens) heard the banjo on one of his dad’s American records, he yearned to play it. But having no access to one, Jens played their mother’s accordion, accompanying Uwe, who played their father’s guitar. When Jens turned ten he acquired a tenor banjo and started to play Dixieland jazz, hoping that one-day ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ would somehow flow from the instrument. A year later, Jens and Uwe made their first public appearance, and two years later Uwe bought Jens his first five-string banjo.

At age 16, Jens and Uwe left home and traveled throughout Europe calling themselves the Rocky Road Band, attempting a living as street musicians. Their adventure paid off in the form of a record contract with CBS. In 1982, at the age of 20, Jens crossed the Atlantic, heading for the Bean Blossom Festival and Bill Monroe. Munroe introduced Jens to the Grand Ole Opry, as the first known European banjo player. After living with Bill for the summer and following his advice, Jens returned to Switzerland to develop his own musical style and repertoire. For four years, Jens spent days and nights learning tunes from all the records he could find.

In 1986, Jens and Uwe reunited to form the Appalachian Barn Orchestra, the forerunner of today’s Kruger Brothers. Since MerleFest 1997, the event that launched the Kruger Brothers’ career in America, Jens has performed with Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, John McEwen, Willie Nelson, and Ricky Skaggs, to name only a few. Like Uwe, Jens can play many stringed instruments with proficiency, and like the Kruger Brothers, Jens’ style and virtuosity cannot be characterized with a word or phrase. But those who have heard Jens play banjo know that he is truly a master of his art. As a composer, Jens’ comprehension of music in all of its forms is becoming well known among his peers, colleagues, and the Kruger Brothers’ growing audiences.

For more information about Jens, visit: https://KrugerBrothers.com

The original banjo player with Blue Highway, Jason is a native of Newland, North Carolina. A talented multi-instrumentalist, he brings all-around musicianship to the group, not the least of which is his distinctive, rock-solid banjo style. Writing for the Memphis Area Bluegrass Association, Betty Westmoreland observed about Jason and his habit of saying very little onstage: “His banjo does the talking, as is true of most superb performers. From Newland, NC, in Avery County, Burleson is part of that fine crop of North Carolina banjo players. There must be something about the air, or water, or the soil in that part of the country—so many fine banjo players seem to come out of those hills.”

Jason’s instrumental compositions form an integral part of the Blue Highway repertoire, including “The North Cove” ( Through the Window of a Train), hailed by one critic as “a burning instrumental with a sinuous melody” that offers “more to chew on than just the whiz-bang pyrotechnics of many modern bluegrass instrumentals” (Smoky Mountain News). Jason also anchors the group’s quartets with his bass vocals. A jazz devotee, Jason’s talent hasn’t been fully revealed yet to the bluegrass community and gives Blue Highway unlimited options for the future.

Eddie Collins is recognized as one of today’s foremost instructors of the 5-string banjo, having authored numerous books designed to help all levels of players from beginner to advanced. He was the founder/editor of the highly regarded 5-String Quarterly, a trade publication dedicated to all aspects of the 5-string banjo. Eddie currently authors the “Beginner’s Corner” column for Banjo NewsLetter. As a features writer for numerous acoustic music publications, he has interviewed many of today’s top banjo players – gaining key insights into their playing styles.

Collins resides in Austin, TX, where he teaches music and performs with some of the finest musicians in Texas. He has numerous recording credits, including his latest all-instrumental solo project, Rapid Transit (2008). Eddie holds a Master’s degree in education and formerly taught teacher education courses at California Lutheran University. Also an accomplished guitar and mandolin player/instructor, he has performed and conducted workshops throughout the United States and Europe. Eddie’s career and original music have been documented in several publications and were highlighted on the nationally-syndicated television show, Texas Music Café.

For more information about Eddie, visit: http//EddieCollins.biz