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Tom T. Ball (Camp Bass Player) - 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.

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)

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)

Mac Benford has been playing the 5-string banjo for 40 years. He was fortunate enough in his formative years to have direct contact with great players like Wade Ward, Kyle Creed, Tom Ashley, and Roscoe Holcomb, all of whom strongly influenced his playing. He came to prominence during the 70s as a member of the legendary Highwoods String Band. Later on, while performing and recording with the Backwoods Band and the Woodshed Allstars, Mac expanded on the traditional role of the clawhammer banjo as a lead and backup instrument. His recent releases Kentucky Favorites and Half Past Four: A Tribute to Ed Haley, showcases his ability to capture the melodic subtlety of complex fiddle tunes without sacrificing the ring and drive of the best traditional playing. (Mac Benford Web Site) (Mac Benford 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)

Jeremy Darrow (Bass instructor). Jeremy Darrow is equally at home playing jazz, country, or bluegrass music. He has appeared onstage at many top festivals and programs including Merlefest, Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour, and The Grand Old Opry. Among many others, he has performed with singer-songwriters Michael Martin Murphey, Antje Duvekot, and with Josh Joplin as a member of the acclaimed group Among the Oak and Ash. Jeremy holds a degree in Jazz Performance on double bass and has extensive experience in classroom and private instruction.

Adam Hurt Deemed a "banjo virtuoso" by the Washington Post, Adam Hurt draws on diverse musical influences from the North Carolina piedmont, the mountains of central West Virginia, the Ohio River Valley and beyond to create his own elegantly innovative clawhammer banjo playing. At age 24, Adam has already placed in or won most of the major old-time banjo competitions including Clifftop, Mount Airy, and Galax, and won the state banjo championships of Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Alabama. A gifted and respected teacher, Adam has conducted banjo workshops at the Swannanoa Gathering, the Augusta Heritage Center, and Appalshop, among other venues around the country. In 2009, he released his third CD, "Perspective" on the Ubiquitone label. (Adam Hurt's web site) ( Adam Hurt 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)

Joel Landsberg (Camp bass player) - Joel grew up in New York City and started playing bass at age 12. He moved to Switzerland in 1989 and embarked upon a successful career playing bass for several European-based country/rock and jazz groups. He met the Kruger Brothers during this period and developed what would turn into a deeply rewarding musical alliance and friendship. He has been playing full time with the Kruger Brothers Band since 1995. (Joel Landsberg at Elderly.com) (Joel Landsberg Web Site)

Brad Leftwich's music is a direct link to the old-time traditions of the southern Appalachian and Ozark regions, notably the area in southwest Virginia/northwest North Carolina known as the "Round Peak " region. A noted banjo player, fiddler, and singer, he has been performing for some 30 years, both solo and in bands including Plank Road, Leftwich & Higginbotham, and -- most recently -- Tom, Brad & Alice. Recordings of his music appear on the County, Copper Creek, Rounder, and Marimac labels. Brad is especially regarded for his teaching of traditional fiddle and banjo style. He is a frequent staff member at the major workshops and teaching camps throughout the country. He has a book on Round Peak style clawhammer banjo published by Mel Bay, and two old-time fiddle-teaching videos released by Homespun Tapes. (The Brad Leftwich Web Page at the Tom, Brad and Alice website.) (Brad Leftwich at Elderly.com)

Joel Mabus is an accomplished performer, writer and teacher. He learned to play banjo, mandolin and guitar as a child – his parents were both performers on the road shows of the WLS National Barndance, his dad on fiddle and his mom on banjo & mandolin. Joel's own career as musician and songwriter has spanned more than 30 years with 20 albums to his credit. Living in Michigan, he was Elderly Instruments senior instructor for many years, and has taught banjo classes at Augusta Heritage, California Coast Music Camp, Summer Acoustic Music Week, The Maryland Banjo Academy, as well as The Midwest Banjo Camp among others. In 2008, Joel was nominated for Traditional Performer of the Year by the Folk Alliance International. (Joel Mabus Web Page ) (Joel 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 )

Michael J. Miles - Recording artist, writer, actor, educator, composer B Michael is a rare artist who combines talents from numerous disciplines. His highly acclaimed CD's, Counterpoint and American Bach have earned rave reviews firmly establishing him as a musician in a category all his own. Miles has taught music and songwriting to children in the Chicago Public Schools; has taught in the graduate music education divisions of Villanova University and Vander Cook College of Music; he has taught banjo at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago; and he has been a featured workshop artist at numerous events including the Tennessee Banjo Institute and Banjo Camp North. (Michael J. Miles' Web Site) (Michael J. Miles 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)

Luke Richardson - One of today's up and coming young banjoists, Luke is literally one of the first Banjo Camp success stories. He developed his skills by following living banjo masters around as they taught and performed at the Suwannee River Banjo Camp and the Midwest Banjo Camp. Now he shares the stage with such notables as Adam Hurt, James Bryan, Matt and Rachel Combs, and Joseph DeCosimo. He has also won several prizes at regional banjo competitions, including first prize at the 2009 Uncle Dave Macon Days in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He currently teaches banjo and harmonica at the Fiddle and Pick Music Center in Pegram, Tennessee and performs regularly with the Matt Combs Quartet and the Tennebama Ramblers.

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.