• From Canada. Moved to Nashville in 1997.
• 1998-2003, played banjo with Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time.
• Has also worked with Marty Raybon, Reba McIntyre and Dolly Parton.
• One of Nashville’s “A-list” studio musicians.
• 2004, formed the Grascals with Terry Eldridge, Jamie Johnson, Jimmy Mattingly, Danny Roberts and Terry Smith.

• From Nashville.
• A husband-and-wife duo who perform old-time country duets.
• 1964, Barry formed a rock band called “Barry and the Remains, a successful group that opened for the Beatles final U.S. tour.
• Became friends with the late Gram Parsons, fell in love with country music.
• 1970's, Barry and Holly sang together in an electric country band called “The Outskirts.”
• 1980-89, Barry replaced Ricky Skaggs in Emmylou Harris' “Hot Band.”
• Have performed on the Grand Ole Opry and Garrison Keillor's “A Prairie Home Companion.”
• Barry and Holly grew up in Westport, Connecticut, went to the same high school and double-dated together—each dating someone else. They married in 1972.

• A legendary New-England band of the 1970's which featured Pat Enright (guitar and lead vocals), Bela Fleck (banjo), Mark Schatz (bass) and Jack Tottle (mandolin.)

• From Gate City, Virginia.
• A pioneering bluegrass fiddler.
• Began his career in country music in the late 40's, and was introduced to bluegrass when he worked with Bill Monroe for eight months in 1956.
• Mid-60's, worked with The Shenandoah Cutups—a group that backed the late Red Smiley on several albums.
• 1977-79, worked with Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass.
• 1979-84, worked with Wilma Lee Cooper's Clinch Mountain Clan.
• 1984, re-joined Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys playing bass.
• 1992, inducted into the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame.

• From Virginia.
• A legendary mandolin player and leader of the Stony Mountain Boys since 1958.
• The first bluegrass band to perform at New York's Carnegie Hall (1959).
• 1964, recorded an album “Blue Grass Taylor-made” on Capitol Records with his new band, “The Blue Grass Mountaineers.

WAYNE TAYLOR (See also BLUE HIGHWAY)

• From Richmond, Virginia. Grew up in Ohio.
• Late 80's, early 90's, worked with several East Tennessee bands: The Richlands Bluegrass Boys, The Bluegrass Kinsmen, The Tim Laughlin Band.
• 1994, formed Blue Highway with Tim Stafford. He plays bass and sings lead. Has written many of the band’s signature songs.
• Has had a history of health problems: spent several years on crutches as a teenager. Heart attack in 2000. Colon cancer in 2002.

• From Memphis, Tennessee.
• Formed by mandolinist Troy Castleberry, also a Memphis fireman.
• For 10 years, the group practiced and performed every Friday night at “The Bluegrass Shack” in Memphis. It was a 100-year-old two-room schoolhouse which burned down on July 4, 1989.
• 1980, won eleven awards out of eleven categories at the SPBGMA awards show in Lake Ozark, MO, including Best Band, Best Album, Best Mandolin Player, and Best Contemporary Male Vocalist.
• Founder Castleberry died July 11, 2000.
• 2003, a new version of the band was organized by former member, Donny Catron (also formerly with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Neshoba).

• From Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
• An old-time/country/comedy string band formed by Lester and Mike Armistead (father/son), Leroy Troy and Kent Blanton.
• They have performed at the Grand Ole Opry with Marty Stuart and have also appeared with him in concert.
• 2003, recorded first album “Barnyard Frolic.”

• From Hialeah, Florida. Moved to Nashville in 1998.
• Keith formerly performed with the Florida-based band, Highstrung. Also performed at Disney World with a group called The Big Thunder Mountain Boys.
• Keith’s first band: The Bluegrass Little Bits (at age 12).
• 1996, married Danette and formed a duo. She is a singer/songwrite with a successful country album to her credit. She also works for Gaylord Entertainment (producers of the Grand Ole Opry).
• Before moving to Nashville, Keith drove a truck for 14 years.
• Keith and Danette wrote the song “Am I A Fool,” a hit for the Lonesome River Band.
• 1999, Keith was in Rhonda Vincent’s band “The Rage,” playing guitar and singing harmony vocals.

• From Cleveland, Ohio. Lives in Virginia.
• 1988-1994, sang lead and played both mandolin and guitar with Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys.
• At age 13, had a band called the Country Cousins. Two years later, a band called the Bluegrass Revelators.
• 1994, left Stanley’s band to form a group with another Clinch Mountain Boy, Junior Blankenship.
• 1997, formed a new band called Route 23 in Pound, Virginia, which is located on Route 23.
• 2006, was seriously injured in an auto accident, leaving him paralyzed.

• Originally from San Antonio, Texas. Lives in Spring City, Tennessee (He has served as president of the Spring City Chamber of Commerce).
• Called “The Master of the Bluegrass Harmonica.”
• First bluegrass band: “The Harvesters.”
• Has worked with Mike Snider on the Grand Ole Opry

• From Idyllwild, California (San Diego County). Lives in Nashville.
• Pronounced “Theé-lee” (like “really.”)
• A bluegrass child prodigy (guitar and mandolin).
• 1990, 1994, won the Arizona State Mandolin Championship.
• 1993 (at age 12), won the National Mandolin Championship (the youngest winner ever.)
• Performs with Nickel Creek, a group that includes long-time friends Sean (guitar) and Sara Watkins (fiddle) of Vista, California.
• Has also performed with Richard Greene's “The Grass is Greener.”
• Took lessons from John Moore (who performs with California and Bluegrass Etc.)
• Recorded first solo album for Sugar Hill at age 13
• Hobby: baseball card collecting and playing baseball. A star little-league pitcher.
• His father Scott was the original bass player with Nickel Creek. He works for Murray State University as a musical instrument technician.
• 1997, appeared on Grammy-winning album “True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe.”
• 1999, recorded and toured with Dolly Parton.
• 2000, with Nickel Creek, won IBMA award for Emerging Artist of the Year.
• 2001, his “Ode to a Butterfly” nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Recording.
• 2001, won IBMA award for Mandolin Player of the Year. Nickel Creek also won the award for Instrumental Group of the Year.
• 2002, toured and recorded with Mike Marshall.
• 2003, got married.
• 2005, toured with bassist Edgar Meyer.
• 2006, recorded solo project "How to Grow a Woman from the Ground." Began touring with his own band featuring Noam Pikelny (banjo), Gabe Witcher (fiddle) and Chris Eldridge (guitar) as the "Tensions Mountain Boys."
• 2007, changed the name of his band to the "Punch Mountain Boys."

• Formed in 1991.
• Original group composed chiefly of former members of Doyle Lawson's band Quicksilver: Russell Moore, Ray Deaton, Terry Baucom, Alan Bibey and Mike Hartgrove. All but Bibey were Lawson alumni. Baucom was later replaced by Steve Dilling. Bibey was replaced by Lou Reid, then Wayne Benson.
• Name was chosen because each band member had worked with two other bands previously. IIIrd Tyme Out was literally their “third time out.”
• 1992, made several personnel changes. Bibey left the band to be replaced by Lou Reid. Then in November of 1992, Lou Reid and Terry Baucom left to form their own band.
• 1994-2000, won IBMA award for “Vocal Group of the Year” (7 consecutive years.)
• 1994, 1997, Moore won IBMA award for Male Vocalist of the Year.
• 2001, Hartgrove left the band to join the Lonesome River Band; was replaced by Greg Luck.
• 2004, Benson left the band to join the John Cowan Band; replaced by Alan Perdue (formerly with Mountain Heart).
• 2005, Greg Luck left to work with the Circuit Riders; was replaced by Justen Haynes.
• 2006, bass player Ray Deaton left to work with the Anita Fisher Band; was replaced by Edgar Loudermilk.
• 2007, Benson returned to the band and the group began performing as "Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out."

• From Vernon, Connecticut.
• 1981, won the Virginia State Fiddle Championship.1982, won the World's Fair Fiddle Contest in Knoxville.
• 1982, joined Del McCoury's band, The Dixie Pals.
• 1983, an original member of the Lonesome River Band (he came up with the name).
• 1984, Jim and Jesse.
• 1985, the Lost and Found.
• 1985-1988, The Whites.
• 1988-91, The Osborne Brothers.
• 2003, joined Ronnie Bowman band.

• From Hillsboro, Ohio.
• 1970-1989, was a member of the Hotmud Family.
• 1990-2000, the Dry Branch Fire Squad.
• Recorded a solo album in 1998 with the Lonesome River Band, the Seldom Scene, Third Tyme Out, other guests.

• From Franklin, Tennessee.
• One of country music’s best known studio musicians of the 60's, 70's and 80's.
• One of the first “chromatic” (or “melodic”) style banjo players. Influenced many others.
• Early 60's, worked with Jim and Jesse.
• Was a member of the group “Area Code 615.”
• Played theme music to “Hee Haw,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Urban Cowboy,” many others.
• Played on hit songs by such artists as Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Jim & Jesse, Hank Snow, Tammy Wynette, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, Perry Como, Eddy Arnold, Les Paul, Connie Smith, Merle Haggard, Trini Lopez, the Monkees, Olivia Newton-John, Melanie, Jimmy Buffett, Dr Hook, Leon Russell, Neil Young and many others.
• 1990, retired from music due to multiple sclerosis.
• Died in May, 2005.

3 FOX DRIVE (See THE FOX FAMILY)

THREE RING CIRCLE (See ROB ICKES, ANDY LEFTWICH)

JORDAN TICE

• From Annapolis, Maryland.
• A young guitarist (born 1987) who has played with Marty Raybon, Mike Auldridge, Emory Lester and others.
• He is a student at Towson University where he is studying jazz guitar performance and composition.
• 2004, joined Gary Ferguson to form a duo.
• 2005, released solo project.

GORDON TITCOMB

• From Torringtom, Connecticut.
• Since 2001, a member of Arlo Guthrie's touring band.
• Plays pedal steel, mandolin, dobro™, banjo and guitar.
• As a sideman, has worked with Paul Simon, Shawn Colvin, Travis Tritt, Dottie West, Hank Williams Jr., Peter Rowan and many others.
• 2005, released first solo project "The Last Train."

NIALL TONER (THE NIALL TONER BAND)

• From Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Bunclody, County Wexford.
• Since the 1960's, one of Ireland's best known folk and bluegrass performers. He also had a long-running radio program in Ireland called "Country Heartland."
• Plays mandolin and guitar.
• Early career, fronted several Irish folk/bluegrass bands including the Lee Valley String Band, the Sackville String Band and an electric band called "Hank Halfhead and the Rambling Turkeys." The "Turkeys" had a hit single in Ireland and played Adam Clayton's (U2) birthday party.
• 1988-1997, was a resident performer at the Harcourt Hotel in Dublin.
• 1999, moved to County Wexford and formed the Niall Toner Band. Since then has recorded several albums of original songs.
• His songs have been recorded by Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones), Albert Lee, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Special Consensus and numerous Irish artists.

• From Baltimore, Maryland.
• A mandolin player, record producer, and author of a best-selling mandolin instruction book (Bluegrass Mandolin, Oak Publications, 1976).
• Teaches at East Tennesse State University.
• First band: a Washington, D.C. group called “The Lonesome River Boys” (1968-1970).
• 1971, moved to Boston and in 1975 formed Tasty Licks (with Pat Enright, Bela Fleck).
• Once had a band called The Payroll Boys.
• Conducts seminars across the country on how to listen to bluegrass music.

• From Middletown, Ohio.
• Led by fiddler Paul Mullins.
• Formed in December of 1983.
• Paul Mullins is the band's direct link with tradition. In the 1950's he played fiddle with the Stanley Brothers. Paul was also a member of the Boys from Indiana.
• Paul Mullins hosted a bluegrass radio program on WPFB in Middletown for more than 20 years. His son Joe, who plays banjo with the group, took the show over.
• 1995, the group broke up. Same year, Gerald Evans (fiddle) and Joe Mullins (banjo) recorded a duet album “Just a Five String and Fiddle.”
• 1997, Joe Mullins became part of the group Longview.

• From Virginia.
• 1991-1997, performed as the Norman Wright and Kevin Church band.
• Original band included three former members of the Country Gentlemen: Wright (mandolin), Church (banjo), and Spider Gillam (bass).
• 1999, Gillam was replaced by David Lewis.

• From Columbia, Connecticut.
• Formed in 1980 by guitarist Paul and Peggy Ann Harvey. They first jammed in a cabin on Traver Hollow Road.
• Has toured Europe several times. They are popular in Holland.
• The first American bluegrass band to appear on prime-time TV in Denmark.

• From Huntingtown, Maryland (Washington D.C. area).
• One of the top Dobro™ players in bluegrass.
• Learned to play Dobro™ from Mike Auldridge.
• 1989-1995, worked with the Gary Ferguson Band; also with Paul Adkins and the Borderline Band.
• 1995, joined the Seldom Scene, replacing Mike Auldridge.
• Day job: a professional firefighter.

TONY TRISCHKA (See also SKYLINE)

• From New York. Lives in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
• 1963, began playing banjo at age 14.
• An innovative banjo player. One of the first to play jazz on the five-string banjo.
• Introduced Bela Fleck to the banjo and gave him his first banjo lessons.
• Bands: Country Cooking (with Peter Wernick), Breakfast Special, Skyline and The Big Dogs.
• Also plays pedal steel guitar.
• Has authored several banjo instruction books.
• 1992, performed and recorded with “The Rounder Banjo Extravaganza,” with Tony Furtado, Tom Adams and David Grier.
• 1993, created a touring show called “World Turning” which traces the evolution of the banjo from West Africa (where the banjo was born) to the present and future.
• 2000, formed the Tony Trischka Band, a jazz group.
• 2001, performed and recorded with The Wayfaring Strangers.
• 2007, released "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular" featuring duets with Earl Scruggs, Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, Alison Brown, Tom Adams and other banjo players of note. He and Steve Martin appeared together on the Late Show with David Letterman.
• 2007, won IBMA award for Banjo Player of the Year. Also won Instrumental Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year awards for "Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular."

• From Hickory Tree (near Bristol), Tennessee.
• Led by banjo players Tim White.
• Specialty: songs about possums. In 1993 they released an entire album of possum songs and include in their shows a six-foot possum called Seemore, who dances and hands out candy to the children in the audience.

• From Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
• Real name: Troy Lee Boswell.
• Performs in the style of his hero, Uncle Dave Macon.
• A National Old Time Banjo Champion. Began playing at age 12
• 1982, worked with the Bailes Brothers, playing bass.
• 1983-84, joined the cast of TV’s “Hee Haw.”
• Entertained on the General Jackson Showboat for three years (Nashville).
• 1988, first appeared on the Grand Ole Opry.
• 1995, named “Best New Artist” by the Traditional Music Association.
• A collector of country music and Civil War memorabilia.
• 2002, recorded with The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band.

• From Berkeley, California.
• Formed in 2002 by Del Williams, Avram Seigal, Ed Neff and Allison Fisher.
• Not to be confused with a band of the same name that played Dollywood in the early nineties, nor Becky Schlegel’s band which also has the name “True Blue.”
• Williams is the son of Vern Williams (of Vern and Ray fame.) He played guitar and performed with his father in the Vern Williams Band for 15 years.
• Neff (fiddle/mandolin) is a former member of High Country and the Vern Williams Band.
• Siegel (banjo) most recently worked with the Kathy Kallick Band.

TRUE NORTH

• From Salem, Oregon
• Call themselves an "indie-grass sextet" featuring the original songs of Jeff Shippy, Dan Wetzel and Kristen Grainger.
• 2005, released first CD "Cobalt Miles of Sky."

TWO HIGH STRING BAND

• From Austin, Texas.
• Formed in 2005.
• Features Billy Bright (mandolin, formerly worked with Peter Rowan and Tony Rice), Brian Smith (guitar) and Geoff Union (guitar).
• 2006, released first CD "Moonshine Boogie."

• From Rutland, Vermont. Lives in Ferrum, Virginia and Nashville.
• First band: played banjo with Green Mountain Bluegrass. Older brother Stan played mandolin.
• 1988, joined the Lonesome River Band. Originally hired to play banjo, but switched to mandolin.
• 1992, worked with Alison Krauss and Union Station for one year, playing guitar.
• 1993, returned to the Lonesome River Band.
• 1994, returned to Alison Krauss and Union Station.
• 2000, released solo project and sang on soundtrack for the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou” starring George Clooney. Clooney lip-synced to Dan’s lead vocal on “Man of Constant Sorrow.”
• Is also a record producer, working with Tim Ausin at Doobie Shea studios. Has produced albums for Ronnie Bowman, Unlimited Tradition, Jeanette Williams, Scottie Sparks, Kane’s River and Mountain Heart
• A busy session vocalist and instrumentalist: has appeared on recordings by Dolly Parton, Clint Black, Michal Johnson, Randy Travis, many others.
• Favorite game: Foosball.
• 2000, formed “The Dan Tyminski Band” with Ron Block, Barry Bales and Jeff White.
• 2001, won CMA award for Single of the Year (“Man of Constant Sorrow”) and performed it on the awards broadcast with AKUS, Pat Enright and Vince Gill (as the Soggy Bottom Boys).
• 2001, 2002, 2003, won IBMA award for Male Vocalist of the Year. He co-hosted the 2003 Awards show with Alison Krauss.
• 2007, re-formed the Dan Tyminski Band with Ron Stewart, Adam Steffey, Barry Bales and Justin Moses.