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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. (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)

Ryan Cavanaugh may well have taken the art of playing jazz on 5-string farther than any other living player. He grew up in North Carolina playing traditional bluegrass and took first place at the Merlefest, Rockygrass, and Renofest banjo contests. He began studying jazz in high school, and soon began adapting it to banjo, developing in the process a method for playing rapid runs by in effect performing forward rolls on single strings. Discovered by guitar legend John McLaughlin in 2006, Ryan has spent the last few years touring the international jazz scene with acclaimed saxophonist Bill Evans. He also played on several cuts of Evans' recent CD, "The Other Side of Something." Songs For the New Frontier" was released in 2007 (now available only through the (Itunes store). "Cavanaugh’s bluegrass credibility is undeniable but, while he’ll humbly tell you that he’s still got so much to learn, he’s already a remarkable jazz player." John Kelman - reviewer, All About Jazz magazine (Ryan Cavanaugh MySpace) (Ryan Cavanaugh 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)

Matt Flinner Starting out as a banjo prodigy who was playing bluegrass festivals before he entered his teens, Flinner won the National Banjo Competition in Winfield, KS in 1990. He later took up the mandolin and won the mandolin award there the following year. He moved to Nashville in 1999, and his musical horizons quickly broadened. His two solo mandolin albums for Compass Records, The View from Here and Latitude, both also featuring such bluegrass stalwarts as Todd Phillips, David Grier, Stuart Duncan, Jerry Douglas and Darol Anger, have received high critical acclaim. He has also performed with the Matt Flinner Trio, with Phillips, Grier, and Flinner, the Frank Vignola Quartet, the Ying Quartet, Tim O'Brien, Dave Douglas, and the Modern Mandolin Quartet. Matt was also featured on Steve Martin's CD The Crow, which won the 2009 Grammy Winner for Best Bluegrass Album. Matt's banjo playing career has partnered him with artists such as Darrell Scott, Leftover Salmon, The BallingerFamily Band and the Drew Emmitt Band. ( ) ( Matt Flinner at Elderly.com)

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)

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)

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)

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.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 the Randy Kohrs Band. He has taught extensively throughout Indiana and Michigan. (Mike Sumner's MySpace Site) (Mike Sumner at Elderly)