In the summer of 2022, Hot Rize’s’s 45th year, the band received two special honors: induction into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, and a request to headline the 50th annual RockyGrass Festival… Read More
If you got into bluegrass in the 1970s, you probably first became aware of Pete Wernick as half of the twin banjo tag team (along with Tony Trischka) from the New York State band Country Cooking. Or maybe you bought one of the first copies of his best-selling instruction book “Bluegrass Banjo” from Oak Publications. (Remember those flexi-discs?) … Read More
Here I am, 71 as of Feb. 25, and still picking the five. The “new Granada” I got in 1988 is 29 years old this year — older than Earl’s was in the 40s and 50s — and sounding nice with a calfskin head I’ve had on it since fall.… Read More
Thanks everyone who joined Hot Rize and guests for a memorable night, raising ~ $40,000 for flood relief! Pete talks to Marquee Magazine about the benefit, the flood, and the next Hot Rize album:
Last month I was kinda busy during the time I’d usually prepare a column; Hot Rize’s “Berkeley to Berklee” tour, as we called it.… Read More
October 28 in Berkeley, California, Hot Rize will kick off its first tour in 12 years. The group’s full-time run was January, 1978–April, 1990. After disbanding, we’d reunite for a handful of gigs each year. … Read More
Bryan Sutton, the guitarist many regard as the most gifted flatpicker in a generation, believes in practice, not destiny, but he also keeps a snapshot at home taken in 1989 that seemed to foretell his bluegrass future. “When I was fifteen, I went to my first festival in Denton, N.C. and I got to see Jim & Jesse in their cool suits,” Sutton said backstage at June’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival. “Hearing Hot Rize play live had a huge impact on me. All I wanted to do was sound like Hot Rize.”… Read More
I am lucky to have had some neat opportunities in music these days. Along with three banjo camps and six or seven jam camps a year, I’ve gotten to perform with a number of cool groups in a variety of places (Ryman Auditorium and Carnegie Hall in just the last week, yow!). … Read More
This article appeared on JamBase.com and includes in-depth interviews with Tim, Pete, and Nick.… Read More
This summer presents me some good challenges. Between late April and mid-July, I will have been on stage performing no less than ten different repertoires:… Read More