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Eddie Adcock - is one of bluegrass music's bonafide legends. A unique stylist and superpicker on banjo and guitar, he's been a major force in the field since the 1950s. After selling a calf he'd raised to buy his first banjo, Eddie honed his talents with the likes of Mac Wiseman and Bill Monroe; then for 12 years he was the sparkplug member of the groundbreaking group, the Country Gentlemen. He later became a pioneer in both the "newgrass" and "new acoustic" music genres. Over the course of his fifty-year career, he has been Bluegrass Music's Entertainer of the year; made a member of Virginia's Country Music Hall of Fame and had an annual day named for him by the governor of that state; he was also named an honorary "Kentucky Colonel." Eddie has recorded both banjo and guitar videos for Homespun, and he has been on staff at both the Tennessee Banjo Institute, and the Maryland Banjo Academy. Nowadays, most of his stage performances are with his wife Martha, in the duo, "Twograss." Eddy's most recent CDs are "Twograss" (with Martha Adcock) and "Renaissance Man." ( Eddie Adcock at Elderly.com)

Tom T. Ball (MBC Bass Instructor) - has played the upright bass in various groups since the mid-1970s, from the New Wexford County Rangers to the seven-piece swing band Jive at Five. He has been active in the Wheatland Music Organization since its beginnings and is currently serving as Vice President of the Board of Directors. A treasure trove of information about all forms of music, Tom has hosted the popular "Homespun" music show on WCMU public radio since 1980, and is a Marketing Representative for CMU Public Broadcasting. (Tom T. Ball at Elderly.com)

Cathy Barton Para - Cathy Barton Para has been playing banjo for more than thirty-five years in both the clawhammer and two-finger picking styles. She worked with Grandpa and Ramona Jones in their crafts shop and dinner theater in Mountain View, AR in the 1970s and 1980s, and she toured with Ramona Jones for several years. Her banjo repertoire is influenced by Grandpa and Ramona, and by Missouri fiddlers such as the late Taylor McBaine and Pete McMahan. Her musical interests also include early country music, and music from the Civil War and Lewis-and-Clark eras. She and her husband Dave Para tour the United States, Europe and Canada and are best known for performing songs and tunes collected from traditional singers and fiddlers in their home state of Missouri and the Ozarks region. Cathy won the Tennessee State Banjo Championship two times, she appeared on the "Grand Old Opry," and on the television shows "Hee Haw" and "Nashville Now." She and Dave have made ten duet recordings. (The Cathy Barton and Dave Para Web Site) (Cathy Barton Para at Elderly.com)

Janet Beazley plays banjo and sings with the California band, Chris Stuart & Backcountry. She also co-produced and engineered both CSB band albums as well as solo projects by Chris Stuart and guitarist Eric Uglum. Janet' solo CD, 5 South, is just out on the Backcountry Records label and is the focus of the profile article in the August 2005 issue of Banjo Newsletter. Janet has taught banjo, music theory and harmony singing classes at the British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop in B.C., Canada, the Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society Workshop in Edmonton, Alberta, and the California Bluegrass Association Music Camp in Grass Valley, CA. She holds a doctorate in early music performance and when not on the road with the band she teaches at the University of Southern California, University of California at Riverside, and Claremont Graduate University. (Janet Beazley at Elderly.com)

Byron Berline - is a three-time National Fiddle Champion. Among the many ensembles he has played with are Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Dillard & Clark, Country Gazette, Sundance, and Berline, Crary & Hickman. A sought-after session fiddler, he has recorded with such notables as The Band, The Byrds; John Denver, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, Elton John, Manhattan Transfer, Willie Nelson, The Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt, Earl Scrugg, Rod Stewart, and numerous symphony orchestras. He has toured the United States extensively, Europe often, and has appeared in China, Japan, Australia, Northern Africa and the South Pacific. Byron has been inducted into Oklahoma's Musicians Hall of Fame, named Oklahoma's Ambassador of Goodwill, and been featured artist at the international convention of the Violin Society of America. His latest solo recording is "Flat Broke Fiddler." (Byron Berline's Web Site) (Byron Berline at Elderly.com)

Keith Billik (MBC Sound Engineer). Both a performing musician and a professional sound engineer, Keith Billik has excelled on both sides of the soundboard. He believes that his listening and personal involvement in a wide variety of musical styles has given him a knack for knowing how these different genres should sound, and he enjoys the challenge in trying to achieve the perfectly appropriate mix when running the board. His experience includes various rock, jazz, bluegrass, and theater productions, not to mention two Midwest Banjo Camp faculty concerts. Keith's main axe for several years has been the banjo (3-finger style), and he is honored to be able to work with many of his personal heroes on the MBC faculty. (Keith Billik at Elderly.com)

Paul Brown is not only one of today's most sought after banjo players, he's also a fine fiddler and singer. He started playing banjo at age ten, and has spent years learning music from some of the last fiddle, banjo, and guitar players to emerge before the age of radio and recordings in Virginia and North Carolina. Among his big banjo influences are Wade and Fields Ward, Tommy Jarrell, Gilmer Woodruff, Benton Flippen, Fred Cockerham and Kyle Creed. Many of his songs came from his mother, who learned them in the 1920s and 1930s from older musicians near Bedford, Virginia. He's played with a long list of outstanding musicians young and old, and recorded and produced highly acclaimed albums featuring old time musicians. Paul has appeared at festivals nationwide and taught at music camps since the 1970s. He's also a broadcast and print journalist, and he reports on traditional music and culture as often as he can. (Paul Brown Web Site) (Paul Brown at Elderly.com)

Bob Carlin has taken the distinctive southern banjo style to appreciative audiences all over the US, Canada and Europe and he is a three-time winner of the late Frets Magazine "Favorite Banjoist" readers poll. He has several solo recordings with Rounder Records, including Banging and Sawing, Where Did You Get That Hat?, and Fiddle Tunes For Clawhammer Banjo, in addition to which he as recorded duo CDs with Bruce Molsky and John Hartford. He also played as a regular in Hartford's band for several years prior to the latter's untimely demise. A noted teacher, Bob recorded a two volume instructional series on clawhammer for Homespun Tapes, and he has served as instructor at the American Festival of Fiddle Tunes and at the Ashoken Fiddle and Dance Camp. He started his career as sought after producer of acoustic recordings by organizing the seminal recording, Melodic Clawhammer Banjo back in the 1970s. He is also a highly regarded folkloris (Bob Carlin's Web Site: cartunesrecordings.com) ( Bob Carlin at Elderly.com)

Bill Evans is well-known within the bluegrass banjo world as a player and teacher. A former member of Dry Branch Fire Squad, Bill currently tours nationally with Peter Rowan, John Reischman, Tony Trischka, and with his solo historical concert The Banjo in America. In addition, he writes a monthly instructional column for Banjo Newsletter and has produced instructional books and videos with Sonny Osborne and J.D. Crowe for AcuTab Publications and Homespun Tapes. He has taught at American Banjo Camp, Augusta Heritage Center, Banjo Camp Northm Camp Bluegrass, and Nashcamp Bluegrass Instructional Camps. (Bill Evan's Native and Fine Web Site) (Bill Evans at Elderly.com)

Dan Gellert is well-known among old-time music aficionados both as a great banjo player and and as a superb fiddler. Fortunately for us, he's agreed to teach both instruments at MBC. On banjo he plays quite a number of styles including several variants of 2- and 3-finger picking, plus clawhammer. As he describes it, "I've been listening to scratchy old records and playing scratchy old music for over 40 years, and I just keep getting older and scratchier all the time." Among his old and scratchy fiddle and banjo influences are Uncle Dave Macon, Wade Ward, Fred Cockerham, W.M. Stepp, Luther Strong, Nathan Frazier, Uncle Bunt Stephens, Hobart Smith, Ed Haley, Tommy Jarrell and Emmett Lundy. He has been on staff at the Tennesee Banjo Institute, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes and the Swannanoa Gathering. His latest CD is "Waitin' On the Break of Day." (Dan Gellert's Web Site) (Dan Gellert at Elderly.com)

Murphy Henry (leader: bluegrass novice program) - Murphy Henry is known to bluegrass banjo students around the world for her "Murphy Method" videos, which focus on learning to play 3-finger style by ear. Murphy has written the "General Store" column for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine for the past 18 years, has written a monthly column in Banjo Newsletter since 1983, and now edits and publishes her own Women in Bluegrass quarterly newsletter. She has been an instructor at the Tennessee Banjo Institute, the Maryland Banjo Academy, Steve Kaufman's Banjo Kamp, Augusta Heritage Bluegrass Week, the Huck Finn Bluegrass Camp, Bill Evans' J.D.Crowe Camp, and the Wintergrass Bluegrass Festival. She was also selected for inclusion in the book Masters of the 5-String Banjo. She and her husband Red Murphy have recorded 10 record albums and cassettes, and they can often be heard around their home in Winchester, Virginia playing with their bluegrass band Red and Murphy & Co. Her one solo CD is called M and M Blues. ( Murphy Method Web Site) ( Murphy Henry at Elderly.com)

Alan Jabbour (MBC Old-time fiddler) Alan Jabbour is a Floridian by birth and a violinist by early training. The folk revival drew him into studying folklore and folk music as a graduate student at Duke University in the 1960s, when he documented and apprenticed with Henry Reed and other oldtime fiddlers in the Upper South. His albums fiddling with the Hollow Rock String Band became benchmarks of the oldtime music revival from the 1960s on, and the documentary albums and Library of Congress websites he has edited have likewise become benchmarks. He retired from the Federal government several years ago and is devoting more time to old-time music again. Alan and MBC Director Ken Perlman have released a joint CD of fiddle and banjo duets entitled Southern Summits. (Alan Jabbour at Elderly.com) (Alan Jabbour's web site)

Gerald Jones, life-long Texan, has been involved with the performing, production and teaching of music for over 30 years. He's a skilled player in many different styles including bluegrass, western swing, country, classical, jazz, and Polish war hymns... He's played or recorded with with Jim "Texas Shorty" Chancellor, Mark O'Connor, Vince Gill, Sam Bush, Hank Thompson, Red Steagall, Jerry Douglas, Junior Brown and many more. He's the editor of Mel Bay's webzine Banjo Sessions (http://BanjoSessions.com), and is a frequent contributor to Joe Carr's Mandolin Sessions. Gerald invented the Acoustic Plus pickup used by Earl Scruggs, Bela Fleck, Alan Munde, Bill Keith and many other great banjo players. Gerald is also a favorite instructor at many bluegrass and roots music camps around the nation, teaching banjo, mandolin, and many special topics such as "Jam Survival Skills." Joe Carr said of Gerald, "students love him because he jams a lot with them and teaches as much out of class as in!" (Gerald Jones Web Site)

Jim Mills - Jim Mills was voted the IBMA Banjo Player of the Year a record six times. For about 15 years, he was the resident banjo player with the well-known bluegrass band Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, with whom he recorded 11 albums and won 6 Grammy awards. Before that, JIm worked with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, and has also recorded and toured with such well known performers as Dolly Parton, Bruce Hornsby, and the Dixie Chicks. Jim has three solo CD's on Sugar Hill Records: Bound To Ride, My Dixie Home, and Hide Head Blues; he also has an instructional DVD on AcuTab. The proprietor of Jim Mills Banjo Inc. which specializes in the buying and selling of Pre -War Gibson Banjos, he has recently written a book on the subject, entitled Pre-War Gibson Mastertone Banjos of the 1930s and 40s. (Jim Mills at Elderly.com)

James McKinney - is both a Scruggs and Reno style expert, one of the foremost jazz players of the bluegrass banjo world, and one of the most technically precise banjoists around. He won the Southern U.S. Banjo Championship at age 15. Before long he had won dozens of state and regional championships, including the National Banjo Championship at Winfield, Kansas. He made the first of several appearances on the Grand Ole Opry at age 19 and worked for a time at Opryland theme park as a banjoist and musical arranger. James moved to Nashville for good in 1990 to play full time in the James and Angela McKinney Band; he also does studio and touring work out of Nashville. James is a dedicated banjo teacher, he has taught countless workshops, and he has been on the staff at a number of major banjo camps, including the Smokey Mountain Banjo Academy, and the SPBGMA workshop. He has performed and/or recorded with the likes of Vassar Clements, Porter Wagoner, Barbara Mandrell, John Hartford, and Johnny Cash . His latest CD is called "Mind Over Banjo." (James McKinney Web Site) James McKinney at Elderly.com)

Terri McMurray - studied banjo with Round Peak icon Tommy Jarrell and has played with many other great traditional players, such as Earnest East, Benton Flippen, Paul Sutphin, Fields Ward, Luther Davis, Verlen Clifton, and Kyle Creed. She has taught at numerous music camps including the Swannanoa Gathering, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Augusta Old-Time Week, Pinewoods Camp and the Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camp. She is a well-loved teacher known for her engaging manner, patience and ability to work with students of all ages. She is especially skilled at helping beginners become acquainted with their instruments and with old time music. A founding member of The Old Hollow Stringband, she has recently performed with the Toast String Stretchers and the Mostly Mountain Boys. Terri McMurray at Elderly.com )

Alan Munde needs no introduction to long-time Bluegrass fans. From his early creative work with Sam Bush in Poor Richard's Almanac to his traditional bluegrass apprenticeship with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys to his 21-year stint anchoring the landmark Country Gazette, Alan has blazed a trail as one of the most innovative and influential banjo players of all time. Along the way, Alan also recorded and contributed to numerous instrumental recordings, including the 2001 IBMA Instrumental Album of the Year -- "Knee Deep in Bluegrass." Alan has supplemented his recorded work with several instructional publications for the banjo, and, since 1986, he has taught Bluegrass and Country Music at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. (Alan Munde's Web Site) (Alan Munde at Elderly.com)

Alan O'Bryant (aka OBanyon) - is best known as a singer, songwriter and banjo player with The Nashville Bluegrass Band. Originally from Reidsville, NC his career in Nashville spans some thirty plus years of recording, producing, publishing and performing worldwide. His appearances have included workshop classes on banjo technique and instrument set-up, vocal and band performance dynamics and more at venues including; Augusta Heritage Center,in Elkins WV, Wintergrass Academy in Tacoma WA, Vancouver Folk Festival, Rocky Grass Academy in Lyons, CO, Disney Institute in Orlando, FL and Nashcamp in Cumberland Furnace, TN. Along with NBB and his home project studio Alan currently enjoys picking with his two sons Calan and Ian, learning old time tunes on the mandolin and five string banjo and gives private lessons at the Fiddle & Pick near his home in Pegram, TN. (Alan O'Bryant at Elderly.com)

Dave Para (Camp Old-time Guitarist) - Dave first studied guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music in his hometown Chicago where the folk revival has continued unabated. While attending college in Columbia, Mo., he managed the Chez Coffeehouse, an active center for folk music in Central Missouri for 20 years. There he started accompanying several fiddlers and began playing in local string bands. Dave has since been noted often for his expert and distinctive back-up guitar style and has taught workshops at festivals and camps around the U.S. (Dave Para at Elderly.com) (The Cathy Barton and Dave Para Web Site)

Ken Perlman - Perhaps the best-known exponent of the "melodic" clawhammer style, Ken is known where-ever banjos are played as a master of clawhammer technique and an expert teacher of clawhammer mechanics. He has been a Banjo Newsletter columnist for over 20 years; he has written several books on clawhammer instruction including the well known works Melodic Clawhammer Banjo and Clawhammer Style Banjo, and he has recorded several series of audio and video banjo instruction. He has taught at well over a dozen banjo and general music camps including the American Banjo Camp, Banjo Camp North, Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Maryland Banjo Academy, the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Common Ground on the Hill, Suwannee Banjo Camp, and the Tennessee Banjo Institute. His most recent recording is Northern Banjo, and his most recent book is Everything You Wanted to Know About Clawhammer Banjo. (Ken Perlman's Web Site)(Ken Perlman at Elderly.com)

Scott "Stretch" Reinsmith - is a repair technician at Elderly Instruments. He started repairing instruments at his home in the late 70's and was the owner of Stretch Guitar Repair in the 90's. Stretch enjoys working on banjos and can do everything from basic setups to refrets, inlays, repair broken headstocks, re-cut neck heels and reset dowel sticks for proper neck angles, Binding repair and replacement and make new fingerboards, He has run a banjo repair shop and taught a repair class at the Midwest Banjo Camp IV & V. (" Stretch" at Elderly)

Art Rosenbaum - has been collecting, studying, and performing traditional American music for nearly 50 years. His repertoire, much of it learned first-hand in the course of his field work, ranges from Appalachian banjo tunes and songs, Southern and Mid-Western ballads and blues, fiddle tunes, sea chanties, and spirituals. Rosenbaum began seeking out traditional performers while in his teens, and has produced over 15 documentary LPs and CDs. An authority on traditional banjo styles and tunings, Rosenbaum learned from and documented old-time banjo players Mabel Cawthorn, Pete Steele, Omie Rose, Buzz Fountain, Chesley Chancey, Jake Staggers, Uncle John Patterson, and many others. He plays in several down-picking and clawhammer styles, and is also expert at old-time two- and three-finger styles. He authored two influential instruction books on old-time banjo -- Old-Time Mountain Banjo and The Art of the Mountain Banjo -- and has taught at both the Tennessee Banjo Institute, Suwannee Banjo Camp, and the Maryland Banjo Academy. Currently he plays banjo with Phil Tanner's Skillet Lickers of Dacula, Georgia, the present day continuation of Phil's grandfather's famed Gid Tanner's Skillet Lickers band. Art's most recent solo CD is "Georgia Banjo Blues.". (Art Rosenbaum Web Site)(Art Rosenbaum at Elderly.com)

Bob Stein - Started dancing squares and contras when he was 8 and has been dancing ever since. More recently he added Scandinavian and Balkan dancing to his interests. He started calling when he moved to Michigan 30 years ago and started the contra and square dance series in Lansing. He has called at the New England Folk Festival Dance weekend, the Ann Arbor dawn dance, Michigan Dance Heritage dance weekends, Toronto, Washington D.C. and all the Michigan dance series. Although he does not play an instrument, he has loved folk music since a child. He was president of the University of Chicago Folklore Society in the 1950s and on the board of the Ten Pound Fiddle since moving to Michigan until he retired 2 years ago.

Matt Stoddard - Michigan's own Matt Stoddard learned his craft as a youngster from bluegrass musicians in Nashville while there during the summers to visit with family. During the following years Matt gained experienced in all styles of bluegrass fiddling by playing in such Michigan area bluegrass bands as Wendy Smith and Blue Velvet, The Mike Adams Band, The Harris-Ellis Band, and Run for Cover Bluegrass Band. He also has extensive professional experience as a bluegrass guitarist and vocalist.

Mike Sumner - claims numerous playing influences, from his father Joe Sumner to Bela Fleck, Scott Vestal, Allison Brown, and Sammy Shelor. He won the Indiana State Picking and Fiddling Banjo championship seven times and the Kentucky State Banjo championship twice. In 2001 alone, he placed first at Merlefest, first at Rockygrass, and won the Winfield National Banjo Championship (which he repeated in 2007). Mike currently plays banjo for the Randy Kohrs Band. He has taught extensively throughout Indiana and Michigan. (Mike Sumner's MySpace Site) (Mike Sumner at Elderly)

Mac Traynham - of Floyd County Virginia has a long history of playing top quality old-time country music. He started out playing bluegrass banjo in the 1970s, but after moving to Southwest Virginia he was he was drawn to a style of clawhammer influenced by the rhythms of traditional Blue Ridge flatfooting. Although his main banjo influences were regional greats Wade Ward and Dent Wimmer, he also met and played with many other still active 'old timers' in the region. Today Mac's clawhammer style is a unique blend of complex melody and prominent backbeat with subtle drones. He has won ribbons at quite a number of old-time banjo contests, and was awarded first place three times at the pretigious Clifftop festival. Mac has been on staff at several well-known music camps such as Augusta Heritage Workshops, the Swanannoa Gathering, Mars Hill Blue Ridge Old-Time Week and The Festival of American Fiddle tunes. He is also a maker of open-back banjos, specializing in short-scale instruments with 12” rims. His lone solo recording is entitled “I’m Going That Way.” (Mac Traynham's Web Site)(Mac Traynham at Elderly.com)

Frank Youngman (MBC Bass Instructor) - starting out on piano and trumpet, and played his first professional job at the age of fifteen with a Glenn Miller-style band, the Royalaires, who later became the Formalaires. He got drawn into the world of folk and acoustic music during his college years. In the years afterwards, he played bass with the Lost World Stringband at such diverse venues as "Prairie Home Companion" and the "Improv Comedy Club". Frank has performed with Martin, Bogan and Armstrong, the Fiction Brothers & Johnny Gimble, Joel Mabus, and Frank Wakefield. As a singer, guitarist, trumpet player and founding member of Jive at Five, Frank spends his days teaching instrumental music for the Lake City School District. He continues to perform in many different settings, bringing with him a passion for music and bit of every sound, style and beat he has heard along the way. (Jive at Five Web Site)( Frank Youngman at Elderly.com)