Bill Keith had great impact on modern banjo playing, particularly in the direction of "newgrass." He even had a picking style informally named after him.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Keith began taking banjo lessons at a young age, and also learned to play piano and ukulele. During adolescence, he played in a few Dixieland bands,... [+] Read More

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When it comes to ultra-smooth, virtuosic bluegrass, there are few bands in the class of California. Led by fiddler Byron Berline and flatpicking guitarist Dan Crary, the quintet radiates with instrumental brilliance.

The genesis of California goes back more than two decades when Berline formed a new band, Sundance, after the breakup... [+] Read More

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Clarence White was a gifted guitarist who was one of the pioneers of country-rock in the late '60s. Although died young, his work with the Byrds and the Kentucky Colonels, among others, remained celebrated among country-rock and bluegrass aficionados in the decades following his death.

Born in Maine but raised in California, White... [+] Read More

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David Grier stands at the forefront of progressive bluegrass guitarists, following in the footsteps of Clarence White and Tony Rice. Three-time winner of the Best Guitar Player of the Year award by the Bluegrass International Music Association, Grier began playing guitar at age eight. His father, Lamar Grier, played banjo with Bill Monroe's Blue... [+] Read More

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Doug Dillard was one of the pre-eminent ambassadors of bluegrass banjo during the '60s and '70s, incorporating pop, folk, and country-rock material into his repertoire and supporting a wide variety of artists with those sensibilities. Born in Salem, MO, in 1937, Dillard started playing bluegrass early on, eventually teaming with his younger... [+] Read More

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Gene Clark will always be best remembered for his two-year stint as a vocalist with the Byrds between 1964 and 1966. A fine legacy to be sure, but the shame of it is that there was far more to Clark's body of work than that; he was a superb songwriter, one of the founding fathers of country-rock, and recorded a number of fine albums with an... [+] Read More

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Although he is proficient with a variety of stringed instruments, Norman Blake is famous for his acoustic guitar skills -- he was one of the major bluegrass guitarists of the '70s. Blake came into view in the late '60s, when he began performing as a sideman with artists as diverse as June Carter and Bob Dylan. During the '70s, he began a solo... [+] Read More

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Tony Rice is one of bluegrass' most inventive flatpicking guitar players. Although he's displayed a mastery of the genre's traditions, Rice set the standard for more contemporary styles. A former member of the Bluegrass Alliance, the David Grisman Quintet, J.D. Crowe's New South, and the Bluegrass Album Band, Rice has continued to reflect his... [+] Read More

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