• From Charlotte, North Carolina.
• A folksinger/songwriter who is also a social activist in the South. He is executive director of Grassroots Leadership, an organization that works for civil rights, labor unions and the abolition of for-profit prisons. He is also a writer and public speaker on these issues.
• 2002, recorded a bluegrass album with the Kruger Brothers in Switzerland.

KANE'S RIVER

• From Belgrade, Montana.
• Formed in 1995 as "Deep River" by John Lowell and Nancy Padilla, formerly with Wheel Hoss. Lowell also worked with the Wyoming band Loose Ties.
• 1998, added Jerry Nettuno (formerly with Highstrung). Former Wheel Hoss and New Vintage banjo player Julie Elkins also joined the band.
• 1999, changed name to Kane's River because they found that another group was performing under the name Deep River. Named after an eccentric mountain man in Montana named Kane Fisher.
• 2002, Ben Winship (formerly with Loose Ties) joined the band, replacing Jerry Nettuno.

KATHY KALLICK (See also THE GOOD OL' PERSONS)

• From the San Francisco area.
• Founding member (with Laurie Lewis) of The Good Ol' Persons.
• Also worked and recorded with the Frank Wakefield Band.
• 1993, recorded first solo album.
• 1994, formed "The Little Big Band" with Keith Little (banjo), John Reischmann (mandolin), Sally Van Meter (Dobro™) and Todd Phillips (bass).
• 1995, recorded a children's album "Use a Napkin (Not Your Mom)."
• 1999, formed the Kathy Kallick Band.

STEVE KAUFMAN

• From New York City. Lives in Maryville.
• Three-time winner of National Flatpick Guitar Championship in Winfield, Kansas (1978, 1984, 1986).
• Writes guitar instruction books for Mel Bay Publications; instruction video with Homespun Tapes. Also conducts guitar workshops and hosts several "Acoustic Music Kamps" featuring instruction and mentoring from top musicians.
• Started his own record label: Sleeping Bear Records.

MARO KAWATABA

• From Kyoto, Japan.
• At age 12, saw Bill Monroe on Japanese TV.
• Learned guitar and formed "The Riverside Brothers" with his brother Takaharu.
• "Riverside" is a direct English translation of Kawataba.
• 1997, toured with Randy Howard, Don Rigsby, Missy Raines and Kaz Inaba as "The International Band."
• 2001, released solo album.

THE LARRY KEEL EXPERIENCE

• From Glasgow, Virginia.
• Keel is a 2-time winner of the Telluride Flatpick Guitar Championship (1993, 1995).
• Formerly played with a group called "McGraw Gap." Also worked as a contract musician at Disney World in Tokyo.
• 2000, Larry Keel's "Experience" included Curtis Burch, an original member of the New Grass Revival.
• Keel calls his music "alternative bluegrass."

BILL KEITH

• From Brockton, Massachusetts, near Boston. Lives in Woodstock, New York.
• Popularized a melodic style of playing the banjo which came to be known as "chromatic" or "Keith-style" banjo. His performance of "Sailor's Hornpipe" recorded by Bill Monroe (1965) while he was with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys is a good example of this style.
• Inventor of the "Scruggs-Keith tuner", a device which improved on the original "Scruggs Peg" (designed by Earl Scruggs) allowing banjo players to change the pitch of a string in the middle of a song without having to re-tune their instrument. Keith's device made it possible to add this feature to a banjo without drilling additional holes in the banjo's peghead.
• Learned to play banjo from a Pete Seeger instruction book on a $15 banjo.
• While at Amherst College, he met Jim Rooney, who was running the college radio station and Manny Greenhill, who later became Doc Watson's personal manager. Together they organized the Connecticut Valley Folklore Society to promote folk music in New England. That organization played a key role in the folk music revival of the 1960's.
• Has worked with Red Allen and the Kentuckians, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys (1963-65), Jim Kweskin's Jug Band, Muleskinner, the Woodstock Mountain Revue, and other groups.
• Hired by Earl Scruggs to write out the tablature for Earl's banjo-instruction book, Earl Scruggs and the Five String Banjo.
• While with the Blue Grass Boys, Bill Monroe would introduce him as "Brad" Keith—because, as Monroe put it, "there's only one Bill in my band." (Keith's middle name is "Bradford.")
• Owns the Beacon Banjo Company—which continues to manufacture and distribute the Scruggs-Keith banjo tuner and other parts for banjos.
• 1993, organized new band with Jim Rooney and Eric Weissburg (of Dueling Banjos fame) in a band called "The New Blue Velvet Band."
• 1993, worked with Richard Greene's band "The Grass is Greener."
• 2002, gave speech inducting the Lilly Brothers and Don Stover (one of his banjo heroes) into the IBMA's Hall of Honor.

JEANNIE KENDALL

• From St. Louis, Missouri.
• 1969, began performing with her father Royce in a popular country duo called "The Kendalls."
• 1977, scored first number one hit record, "Heaven's Just a Sin Away." Won a Grammy (Best Country Vocal Performance) and a CMA Award for Single of the Year.
• Recorded for now-defunct Ovation Records, also Mercury and MCA/Curb Records.
• 1998, the Kendalls signed with Rounder Records, but Royce died before the album was finished. Jeannie finished the album on her own and it was released in 2003.

THE KENTUCKY COLONELS

• A legendary California bluegrass band of the 1960's featuring the White Brothers—Roland, Eric and Clarence.
• The White brothers were born in Maine to French Canadian parents. (There were 17 White children altogether.) They moved to Southern California in the 1950's.
• Originally called themselves "The Country Boys" (1956).
• As youngsters, won talent contest and became regulars on a Los Angeles television show called "The Town Hall Party."
• 1957, banjo player Billy Ray Lathum joined the band and it was re-named The Kentucky Colonels.
• 1959, began playing regularly at the Ash Grove, one of L.A.'s most prestigious folk clubs. Fiddler Scott Stoneman was added and Eric White was replaced by Roger Bush on bass. LeRoy Mack (McNees) also joined the group, playing Dobro™.
• 1960, appeared on one episode of the Andy Griffith TV Show. (Replaced in later episodes by the Dillards.)
• 1966, broke up.
• Clarence became a session musician in L.A. and later joined the rock band, the Byrds. He died in 1973 at the age of 29 in an auto accident. He is credited with bringing the guitar into prominence as a lead instrument in bluegrass. He influenced a whole generation of bluegrass flat-pick guitarists, most notably Tony Rice, who now owns Clarence's Martin D-28 guitar.
• Roland went on to work with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass, The Country Gazette and The Nashville Bluegrass Band.
• Billy Ray Lathum joined the Dillards in the 1970's and is worked with Herb Pederson in an L.A. band called "The Laurel Canyon Ramblers." Also had a San Diego-based group called "Banjovi."
• Roger Bush joined fiddler Byron Berline to form The Country Gazette.

KENTUCKY ROSE

• From Eugene, Oregon.
• Formed in 1986 by John Averill. His wife Sue is also in the band.
• Chris Brashear (fiddle) was an original member of this band.

KEROSENE BROTHERS (See HAYSEED DIXIE)

KICKIN' GRASS

• From Raleigh, North Carolina.
• Members: Lynda Dawson (guitar), Jamie Dawson (mandolin), Ben Walters (banjo), Patrick Walsh (bass), Matt Hooper (fiddle).
• Formed in 2000, as backup group for the Chapel Hill Cloggers.
• 2003, won a talent contest in Raleigh and used prize money to finance their first recording, produced by Steve Dilling of Third Tyme Out.
• 2005, released second album "On the Short Rows."

CODY KILBY

• From Nashville, Tennessee
• One of bluegrass music's child prodigies.
• Two time Juvenile National Banjo, Guitar and Mandolin Champion.
• Signed an endorsement contract with Gibson at age ten.As a teenager, won the Kentucky State Banjo Championship, the Georgia State Banjo Championship and both the Winfield National Guitar and Mandolin championships.
• 1993, appeared at the IBMA Awards Show as part of the Bluegrass Youth All-Stars.
• 1996, worked with the band High Lonesome at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta
• 1997, appeared on TNN's Prime Time Country with Dick Clark, Grandpa Jones and Loretta Lynn.
• 2000, joined Sally Jones and the Sidewinders.
• 2001, joined Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, playing lead guitar.

DICK KIMMEL (AND COMPANY)

• From Southcentral Minnesota.
• Has played bluegrass music since the 1950's.
• Plays mandolin, guitar, and clawhammer banjo. Also a singer and songwriter.
• Has written numerous articles and record reviews for Bluegrass Unlimited and other publications. Has written album liner notes for several artists, including Del McCoury.
• Has a Ph.D in biology. Works as a wildlife biologist for Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources.
• Hobby: wild turkey hunting.
• Performs with his band Kimmel and Company and also in a duo with guitarist Adam Granger.
• Called "The Ambassador of Bluegrass" because of his international involvements in bluegrass music. He chairs the IBMA's International Committee.

JACKIE KINCAID

• From Meadowbrook, West Virginia.
• Plays mandolin with the Cumberland Highlanders TV Show and Larry Sparks.
• Has also performed and recorded with with Mac Wiseman, Wayne Lewis, Tom Ewing, Josh Graves, James Monroe, other bands.
• 2007, released solo project.

JAMES KING (THE JAMES KING BAND)

• From Cana, Virginia. Lives in Amelia, Virginia at the foot of Fancy Gap Mountain.
• Started playing rock music at age 12. Was a big fan of Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Steppenwolf. Then at age 15, someone turned him on to the Stanley Brothers. "That music was in my blood all the time, I just didn't know it."
• His father was a fiddler. He was also strongly influenced by Ted Lundy.
• 1982, played with a band called the Chesapeake Bay Boys.
• 1983, Dealer's Choice
• 1985-8, the Blinky Moon Boys
• 1985, recorded with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys.
• 1988, formed his first band "James King, Brian Wetzel and the Misty Valley Boys."
• 1991-1992, Big Country Bluegrass
• A furniture refinisher by trade.
• Hobby: bowling.
• 1996, played the Grand Ole Opry for the first time.
• 1997, won IBMA award for "Emerging Artist of the Year"
• 1997, recorded with Dudley Connell, Marshall Wilburn, Don Rigsby, Joe Mullins and Glen Duncan in a group called "Longview."

KING WILKIE

• From Charlottesville, Virginia (although no one in the band is actually from Virginia. Individually, the band members are from Ohio, Wisconsin, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Tennessee.)
• Named after Bill Monroe's favorite horse.
• Formed in 2002 by Ted Pitney (guitar) and Reid Burgess (mandolin), both graduates of Kenyon College in Ohio who moved to Virginia to start a bluegrass band.
• Other band members: Abe Spear (banjo), Drew Breakey (bass), Nick Reeb (fiddle), John McDonald (guitar).
• 2003, signed with Rebel Records.
• 2004, won IBMA Award for Emerging Artist of the Year.
• 2005, began their move towards a country-rock sound reminiscent of the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers.
• 2007, released new CD "Low Country Suite."

JODY KING

• From North Carolina.
• Has played banjo with such groups as the Lost and Found, After Five.
• 1998, joined New Vintage.
• Toured with the Lonesome River Band as their sound technician.
• 1999, released first solo album.

OSWALD KIRBY (See BASHFUL BROTHER OSWALD)

BILL KNOPF

• From Van Nuys, California.
• Banjo player of many styles: bluegrass, swing, jazz, pop, rock and ragtime.
• Member of Doc Severinson's Las Vegas show band (1979-1985).
• Regular performer at Disneyland
• Does studio work, commercials and TV shows.
• Has written a banjo instruction book.
• Early influences: Doug Dillard, John McEuen.

THE KNOXVILLE GRASS

• From Knoxville, Tennessee.
• A popular progressive bluegrass band of the late 70's and early 80's featuring Mark Newton and Glenn Laney. Paul Brewster was also in this group for two years.
• Home base: Buddy's Bar-B-Q in Knoxville, where they performed regularly.
• Newton left this band to form the Virginia Squires. In 1997, recorded with Rickie Simpkins. He produces the Graves Mountain Bluegrass Festival every year.
• 1997, Laney formed a new group called The Knoxville Bluegrass Band with several
• former members of the Pinnacle Boys.
• 2000, re-united to play the Graves Mountain Bluegrass Festival.
• 2001, Laney died of cancer.

RANDY KOHRS

• Lives in Nashville (originally from Iowa).
• Began performing at age 8.
• Plays all the bluegrass instruments, but is best known as a top Dobro™ player.
• Has toured with several country acts including Tom T. Hall, Holly Dunn, Hal Ketchum, Hank Thompson.
• 1998, joined David Parmley, Scott Vestal and Continental Divide.
• 2000, joined the John Cowan Band.
• 2001, released first solo album and formed his own band.
• 2002, toured with Dolly Parton.
• On Nashville's "A List" of studio musicians.
• 2004, released second solo project "I'm Torn."
• 2006, formed his own band "The Lites"

ALISON KRAUSS (+ UNION STATION)

• From Champaign, Illinois. Lives in Nashville.
• Full name: Alison Maria Krauss.
• Began playing country music when she was ten years old and bluegrass when she was 12.
• Won five state fiddle championships while she was in junior high school.
• 1984, won the national fiddle championship at Winfield, Kansas.
• 1985, played with a group called "Classified Grass."
• Recorded first solo album at age 16 ("Too Late to Cry")
• Almost chose a career in the roller derby. "I couldn't decide whether to play violin or roller-skate."
• 1989 (age 17), toured with "Masters of the Folk Violin."
• Has recorded with many country stars. Sang a duet with Vince Gill on his hit single, "No Future in the Past."
• IBMA Awards: "Female Vocalist of the Year" (1990,1991, 1993, 1995) and "Entertainer of the Year" (1991,1995).
• July 3, 1993, became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, the first bluegrass artist to become a member in 29 years (since Jim and Jesse) and the youngest at age 21.
• 1994, toured with Garth Brooks and Dwight Yoakum.
• 1995, became the first bluegrass act to be sponsored by Martha White Foods since Flatt and Scruggs.
• 1995, "Now That I've Found You" became the first bluegrass album to sell a million copies (certified platinum).
• Has won (as of 2005) six CMA Awards including "Album of the Year," "Female Vocalist of the Year", "Single of the Year," "Song of the Year," "Horizon Award" and "Vocal Event of the Year."
• 1996, sang on the soundtrack for the movie "Twister."
• 1998, appeared on the soundtrack album for the animated feature "Prince of Egypt" (DreamWorks).
• 2000, appeared on the movie soundtrack "O Brother, Where Art Thou."
• 2001, won IBMA award for her duet with Gillian Welch "I'll Fly Away" from the "O Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack (Gospel Recording of the Year).
• 2003, won IBMA award for Album of the Year ("Live")
• 2003, 2004, co-hosted (with Dan Tyminski) the IBMA Awards in Louisville.
• 2004, recorded "You Will Be My Ain' True Love" on the Cold Mountain soundtrack album.
• 2004, recorded "Whiskey Lullaby" with Brad Paisley which went to #1 on the country charts for several weeks.
• 2005, she and Ricky Skaggs co-hosted the IBMA Awards Show.
• 2006, her album "Lonely Runs Both Ways" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album (vocal or instrumental).
• With 19 Grammy Awards to her credit (as of 2006), she holds the record for most Grammy wins by a female artist and is tied for 7th on the all-time list with rock band U2.
• 2007, recorded and toured with Led Zepellin's Robert Plant. Their duet album "Raising Sand" debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts.

THE KRÜGER BROTHERS

• From Switzerland.
• Billed as "Americana from the Heart of Europe."
• Uwe (guitar) and Jens (banjo).
• 1973, began performing together in Switzerland as teen-aged street musicians.
• First band: "Undertaker Skiffle Company."
• 1981, recorded on CBS records as "Rocky Road."
• 1982, Jens played banjo with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. Was the first European to play the Grand Ole Opry.
• 1992-1995, hosted their own national radio program in Switzerland.
• 1998, invited by Doc Watson to play MerleFest.

KUKURUZA

• From Moscow, Russia.
• "Kukuruza" means "corn" in Russian.
• First exposure to bluegrass: an early eighties tour of the Soviet Union by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
• 1993, recorded album for Sugar Hill Records.

TAKAHARU KUNIMOTO (AND THE LAST FRONTIER)

• From Tokyo, Japan.
• Plays the a Japanese stringed instrument called the "Shami-sen" which resembles the banjo.
• Studied bluegrass music for one year at East Tennessee State University (under the sponsorship of the Japanese government) and while there, recorded two albums ("Appalachian Shamisen" and "Sushi and Gravy") with a band made up of ETSU faculty and students called "The Last Frontier." He also performed on the 2005 IBMA Awards Show.
• He is a well-known musician and storyteller in Japan. Owns and performs at the Tokyo Theatre in downtown Tokyo and was featured in the Academy Award nominated film "Mt. Head." He is a regular on several Japanese TV soap operas and children's programs.