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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. (Backcountry Records Web Site) (Janet Beazley at Elderly.com)

Greg Cahill formed The Special Consensus in 1973 in the Chicago area and the band became a full time touring and recording entity in 1975. Greg has appeared on all twelve Special Consensus recordings and has released three solo recordings, one European bluegrass music recording and four banjo instructional videos/DVDs. He has also appeared on numerous recordings by other artists and on countless national television and radio commercials. Greg conducts workshops and master classes at bluegrass camps and festivals worldwide. His teaching credits include Nashcamp, the Maryland Banjo Academy, the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Workshop Camp, the British Columbia Bluegrass Workshops and the Cabin Fever Bluegrass Workshops. He has taught banjo at The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago for over 25 years and currently teaches at the World Folk Music Company in Chicago; he also is a regular contributor to Banjo Newsletter. Just recently, Greg was appointed chair and president of the International Bluegrass Music Association. (Greg Cahill Web Site) (Greg Cahill at Elderly.com)

Pat CloudPat Cloud was playing banjo professionally by age 16; soon afterwards he was touring with Bob Hope's USO Oriental Command tours of 1967 and 1970. He has been a Los Angeles studio musician for 35 years. In 1972, he began jazz studies with former Nat King Cole guitarist, Horace Hatchett and then with William Thrasher, and started to adapt a fluid jazz vocabulary to five-string banjo utilizing melodic technique pioneered by such banjoists as Carrol Best, Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith; he later continued jazz study with vibraphone player Dave Pike. In the 70s, he toured throughout the southeast with the New Tradition Bluegrass Band; in 1983, he recorded the LP, "Higher Power" (Flying Fish) with Barry Solomon and Bob Applebaum. As Tony Trishka describes his playing, "He is the first five-string player to achieve a wide-reaching command of the jazz vocabulary, and as such inhabit a rarefied world which he now shares with a select few. To hear him play is amazing, but to watch him elicit those streams of "boppish" notes from a predominantly bluegrass instrument is other-wordly." (Pat Cloud's Web Site) ( Pat Cloud 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)

Bill Keith - A renowned explorer of the frontiers of banjo picking and of the instrument's harmonic potentialities, Bill Keith largely invented the three-finger picking style known as "melodic" banjo. He first came to international attention in the early 60s when he played and recorded with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. He co-authored the original Earl Scruggs banjo instruction book and record, and has also written several other banjo instruction books, including the first ones ever published in French and Italian. He has recorded several albums for Rounder, Green Linnet, and Hexagon, and has toured widely throughout North America, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia. He devised and, through the Beacon Banjo Company, still markets the famous tuning pegs that bear his name. (Bill Keith at Elderly.com)

Peter Knupfer (Camp bluegrass fiddler) - East Lansing's own Peter Knupfer is an award-winning fiddler with over thirty years of freelance and professional practice to his credit.He toured and recorded with 'Grass, Food & Lodging, a Milwaukee-based bluegrass band, for five years, followed by six years playing country, string swing, and Irish fiddle in a variety of bands. He has shared the stage with the likes of Byron Berline, Donald Stiernberg, Tony Trischka, Peter Ostroushko, and Tim O'Brien. He was the state old-time fiddle champ for Wisconsin (1976) and Kansas (1995). Currently he plays with Detour Bluegrass, from the Traverse City, MI area. (Peter Knupfer's Web Site)

Jens Kruger Since his electrifying introduction to American audiences at Merlefest in 1997, the Swiss musician Jens Kruger has established himself as one of the world's most musically sophisticated and technically accomplished five-string banjo players. He has performed with Earl Scruggs, John McEwen, Willie Nelson, Ricky Skaggs, Doc Watson, and many others. Along with his brother Uwe on guitar and Joel Landsberg on bass, the Kruger Brothers band has appeared in hundreds of arts council and theater concerts as well as at major folk and bluegrass festivals. They have released nearly a dozen CDs on their Double Time Music label. Now living permanently in North Carolina, they perform year-round throughout the U.S. (Jens Kruger at Elderly.com) (Jens Kruger Web Site)

Ron McKeever (Camp bluegrass guitarist) - Ron is a fixture on the mid-Michigan bluegrass scene and his lead and rhythm guitar playing always inspires his fellow musicians. He has shared the stage with Tony Trischka, Bill Evans, Steve Kaufman, Lare Williams, and many others. He is currently playing with Soldiers of the Cross, a southern gospel group. (Ron McKeever 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)

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)

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 Detour, a northwest Michigan bluegrass band; he has taught extensively throughout Indiana and Michigan. (Mike Sumner's Web Site) (Mike Sumner at Elderly)

Pete Wernick - Dr. Banjo," is renowned worldwide for his contributions to bluegrass music. He has been a member of such trend-setting bands as Hot Rize and Country Cooking, is a respected author and teacher, and was President of the International Bluegrass Music Association for 15 years. Pete has recorded dozens of original instrumentals and songs since his career got underway in the 1970s, including two bluegrass chart-topping hits, and is known for his soulful tradition-based style. Since 1980, Pete has conducted over 100 instructional camps nationwide and overseas, and continues to refine his teaching methods. His instructional videos and books include bestsellers such as Bluegrass Jamming, Bluegrass Banjo, Branching Out on the Banjo, How to Make a Band Work, and many others. Pete currently performs with his bluegrass/classic jazz fusion group Flexigrass, in a bluegrass duetwith his singer/guitarist wife Joan ("Nondi"), and in occasional reunions with Hot Rize. (DrBanjo's Web Site) (Pete Wernick at Elderly)