Pete’s cover concept and Greg Carr and Sarah Holman’s masterful execution took top honors for the Graphic Design – Recorded Project Award at IBMA’s annual convention in Nashville on September 30, 2008. The Flexigrass “What The” cover with its layered flying-saucer/banjo design turned heads and set the tone for the CD’s adventurous music. … Read More
This was my 20th Merlefest, having missed only the first one, back in 1988. What an amazing event. I heard some of the most beautiful music and some of the most inspiring I’ve heard in a long time (Jerry Douglas Band and Levon Helm’s Ramble on the Road set concluding Saturday night).… Read More
Summer’s about here, perfect timing for a highly useful trick that solves two annoying picking problems: 1. Sweaty Rotating Pick Syndrome (SRPS) and especially: 2. The dreaded “thwonging” the wrong string (flap that wraps around thumb catches the wrong string and makes nasty, loud, out-of-time “accident note”).… Read More
Flexigrass -The Live Five Welcomes New Members Greg Harris – Vibes The new vibes man is Greg Harris, a Colorado native with a Masters in Music, leader of a jazz quintet and recent sojourner in Africa where he studied and collected … Read More
This was our third time returning to the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival, and each time has been more fun than the last. The unique aspect of this festival is the mixture of Irish music (featuring flatpicked 4-string tenor banjo) with American 5-string banjo music in some of its many forms, including both 3-finger bluegrass style and clawhammer.… Read More
Notes From The Road: This is my “Pete’s-eye view” feature on this site, with reports on interesting people and events I encounter in my travels. It had been five years since I’d been back to Winfield, Kansas for the Walnut … Read More
Notes From The Road: This is my “Pete’s-eye view” feature on this site, with reports on interesting people and events I encounter in my travels. Four bluegrass music camps, Spring of 2002: England, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and California! This spring … Read More
The weekend of Sept. 9 and 10 was an interesting and exciting one out at the Planet Bluegrass headquarters in Lyons, Colorado. Local “polyethnic cajun slamgrass” heroes Leftover Salmon hosted a diverse and high-energy music festival which included acts from local bluegrassers Yonder Mt. String Band to the Rebirth Brass Band, soul-groove specialists Maceo Parker, members of Widespread Panic, the Allman Brothers Band and Hot Tuna… and Pete Wernick and Flexigrass (formerly The Live Five)! Kind of hard to characterize what “type of music” could describe it all, but it was high quality and definitely high energy.… Read More
This article by Bill McKay originally appeared in the September 1996 issue of Banjo Newsletter. For most musicians, mastering a new lick or tune now and then is rewarding enough. And if any of us are lucky enough to grow … Read More