BIO | banjoandy

ABOUT ME

I've loved music all my life but I don't come from a musical family. As a teenager growing up in Atlanta, GA, I liked to go hiking in the North Georgia mountains and I had friends that were into whitewater canoeing and kayaking. We heard rumors of a movie being made up in North Georgia and it turns out some people we knew were providing technical assistance and doing some of the critical stunt work for Deliverance.

I was an impressionable young lad when my older brother took me to see the R-rated film. Needless to say, that movie opened my eyes about a great many things but the thing that stuck with me most was that fiery banjo tune, Duelin' Banjos. The nightmares had barely begun to fade and I already was trying to work out how to play that song on my new banjo.

At 13, things come quickly and not more than a year or so later, my best friend and I brought down the house at our high school talent review with our rendition of Duelin' Banjos. The performance bug had bitten and I was determined to keep playing and performing.

In the mid-90's I came to California for a job with what later revealed itself to be a crappy company. I joined the Alhambra Valley Band and a little later, my wife joined up playing bass. Around 2003 or so, we went over to The David Thom Band. Google that when you get a chance, there's a bunch of videos up on the web. Nowadays I play in a whittled down version of the DTB called Vintage Grass. In all this I've had the privilege of sharing the stage with David Grisman, Don Rigsby, and Tim O'Brien. And as long as I'm dropping names, one time Neal Schon of Journey called me an MF'er, in a good way.

Through all this, I've had a great love of teaching (along the way I picked up a Ph.D. in Microbiology) and it seemed natural to take up music instruction and teach the banjo. It has been a very personally rewarding pursuit. I do love to see someone have that "ah hah" moment when something just clicks into place.