• Bob Paisley was rom Landenburg, Pennsylvania—about fifty miles southwest of Philadelphia. He was born in Ashe County, North Carolina.
• Bob Paisley formed the Southern Grass in 1979. Prior to that he played with Ted Lundy in a band called "Bob Paisley, Ted Lundy and the Southern Mountain Boys" (Lundy died in 1980).
• Bob Paisley's day job: he was a chemist.
• 1976, performed at the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter.
• Toured Europe several times and recorded several albums on a German record label.
• 2004, Bob Paisley died after a long battle with cancer
• Bob's son Dan performed with his father in the Southern grass since the early 1970's and after his father's death, continued as "Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass." The new Southern Grass includes Bob and T.J. Lundy (sons of Ted Lundy) and Dan's brother Michael.
• 2008, Dan Paisley was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year at the IBMA awards and his CD "The Room Over Mine" was nominated for Album of the Year.
• 2009, won IBMA award for Song of the Year (for "Don't Throw Mama's Flowers Away," written by Chris Stuart).

RICK PARDUE (See also LONG AND PARDUE, RAMBLER'S CHOICE)

• From State Road, North Carolina.
• 1975, played banjo in a North Carolina band called the Sugarloaf Ramblers.
• Left the music scene in the mid-80's and took up flying airplanes.
• 1990-1995, had a band called Point Blank.
• 1995, formed Long and Pardue band with guitar player Tommy Long. Pardue plays banjo.
• 1998, formed Rambler's Choice.
• 2000, joined Carolina Road.
• 2002, toured with Butch Robins and Bobby Hicks
• Besides songwriting and playing music, he is a real estate broker and buys/repairs/sells Subarus.
• 2011, recorded an album of original songs with Timmy Massey "The Ghost of Noah Hayes."

• From Renfro Valley, Kentucky.
• Began playing guitar at age six. Age 12, began performing with his family band "Sounds of Gospel" at the Renfro Valley Barn Dance.
• First professional gig: playing mandolin with Larry Sparks at Renfro Valley.
• 1980, formed first band: "Train 45."
• 1986-1994, worked full time as a musician at Renfro Valley.
• 1995, formed band "Wilderness Trail" with his brother Mike.
• 2001, joined the Lonesome River Band, playing mandolin.
• 2004, released first solo project.
• 2006, left the Lonesome River Band to join Dale Ann Bradley's band.
• 2007, joined Dailey & Vincent.
• 2012, released second solo project "Go Parker!"

• From Nashville (White House, Tennessee), but grew up in Los Angeles, California.
• 1974, began playing bluegrass professionally at age 17 with his father Don in the Bluegrass Cardinals. David sang lead and played guitar.
• 1993, left the Cardinals and moved to Nashville to pursue a solo career in country music.
• 1994, formed a new band "David Parmley, Scott Vestal and Continental Divide" which also included Rickie Simpkins, Jimmy Bowen, Mike Anglin and later, Randy Kohrs.
• 1995, Continental Divide won the IBMA Award for "Emerging Artist of the Year."
• 1998, Vestal departed and band name was changed to Continental Divide, then David Parmley and Continental Divide.
• 2002, Randy Graham (formerly with Bluegrass Cardinals, DL & Q, BlueRidge) joined the band.
• 2002, their touring bus was destroyed by fire when it collided with a gas tank on the highway.
• 2002, formed a part-time band called White House (all members of this band from White House, Tennessee).
• 2008, took a hiatus from performing because of health problems.
• 2010, returned to performing with Continental Divide.

• From Locust Ridge, Tennessee.
• Began her singing career at age 11. Moved to Nashville in 1964 after graduating from high school.
• Was introduced to bluegrass music by the Brewster Brothers, Willie and Bud.
• 1967-1974, worked with Porter Wagoner. Had 14 top ten hits as a duo. Won two CMA awards for Vocal Duo of the Year (1970, 1971).
• 1969, joined the Grand Ole Opry
• 1987, recorded "Trio" album with Linda Rondstadt and Emmylou Harris.
• Has starred in several movies, including Steel Magnolias, 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
• Owns her own record label and TV production company.
• Notable hits: Two Doors Down, I Will Always Love You, Coat of Many Colors, Jolene, Islands in the Stream (with Kenny Rogers).
• 1975, 1976, won CMA award for Female Vocalist of the Year.
• 1977, ACM award for Entertainer of the Year.
• 1978, CMA award for Entertainer of the Year.
• 1999, Inducted into the County Music Hall of Fame.
• 1999, released her first all-bluegrass album.
• 2000, won IBMA award for Album of the Year ("The Grass is Blue"). Also appeared on the IBMA awards show.
• 2001, won Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album for "The Grass is Blue."
• 2002, won Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Shine" from the album "Little Sparrow."
• 2004, received the Living Legend Award from the Library of Congress on April 14. Also hosted the CMA awards show.
• Since 2004, her touring bluegrass band is the Grascals.

• From New Egypt, New Jersey.
• A bluegrass gospel group.
• Formed in 1998.
• Features a brother-sister duet, George Cordwell and Barbara Muccie.

• From the Washington, DC area.
• Formed in 1979 by Eldred Hill, Jim Steptoe, Rusty Williams, Leigh Taylor.
• 1980, began playing Wednesday nights at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA (the Seldom Scene played there on Thursdays.)
• 1990, group was disbanded as a full-time group.
• 1992, re-formed with Hill, Teri Chism, Wayne Lanham, Ed Barney.

PATHWAY

• From Mt. Airy, North Carolina.
• Formed in 2007 by three brothers: Mitchell (bass), Mark (banjo), and Scott (fiddle) Freeman. Also in the band: Mark's son Justin (guitar), Jake Long (mandolin) and Casey Byrd (Dobro™).
• Mitchell and Mark worked in the late 1970's with Barry and Kenneth Barrier in a band called Interstate Exchange. They retired from music in the 80's and returned to form Pathway after their children were grown.
• 2009, released first album "Somewhere Tonight."

• From the San Francisco area; lives in the San Fernando Valley (near Los Angeles).
• Began career in San Francisco playing in a band called The Pine Valley Boys with David Nelson (who later played with the New Riders of the Purple Sage) and Butch Waller (of High Country).
• Early-sixties, worked briefly with Lester Flatt, filling in for Earl Scruggs who was recuperating from a hip operation.
• Mid-sixties, joined the San Francisco-based group Vern and Ray (Vern Williams and Ray Park).
• 1968, took Doug Dillard's place in The Dillards. While with The Dillards, recorded two landmark albums "Wheatstraw Suite" and "Copperfields" (Elektra Records).
• 1972, left the Dillards and helped form The Country Gazette with Byron Berline.
• 1972-1985, worked full-time as a session musician, songwriter, vocalist and producer in Los Angeles. During this time, he produced the highly-acclaimed "Trio" album for Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, and recorded several solo albums of his own.
• 1985, formed The Desert Rose Band with Chris Hillman (broke up in 1993).
• Sang on the soundtrack to the movie "City Slickers" starring Billy Crystal.
• 1994, formed a Los Angeles bluegrass band called "The Laurel Canyon Ramblers."
• 1998, 2000, recorded and performed with Tony Rice, Larry Rice and Chris Hillman as "Out of the Woodwork" or "Rice, Rice, Hillman and Pederson."
• 2002, formed a duo with Chris Hillman (Byrds, Desert Rose Band). They have recorded and toured as "Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen."
• 2009, formed a local (San Fernando Valley) bluegrass band called "Loafer's Glory" with Tom Sauber, Pat Sauber and Bill Bryson.

KATI PENN (AND NEWTOWN)

• From Lexington, Kentucky
• Sings and plays fiddle.
• 1995, age 12, she performed and recorded with the "Young Acoustic All-Stars" the brainchild of Pete Wernick.
• 2001, performed on the instrumental CD "Bluegrass 2001" produced by Scott Vestal.
• Has played fiddle with Wild Rose, the New Coon Creek Girls, Dale Ann Bradley, the Jim Hurst Band, Bill Anderson and J.D. Crowe.
• 2003, recorded first solo album "Crazy or Not."
• She is married to Junior Williams, a former member of NewFound Road who plays banjo and guitar in her band NewTown.
• 2010, released album "My Turn to Cry."
• 2011, released "NewTown" CD.

• From Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
• Formed in 1981 by guitarist Mark Rickart.
• Rickart previously worked with a Connecticut group called Apple Country.
• Developed a new style of bluegrass harmony singing called "split trio" harmonies—in which the vocal parts are more widely separated than normal bluegrass trios.
• Broke up in late 1980's, but reunited in 1991to record an album titled "Play One More."

• Originally from Grant County, Indiana. Lived for many years in Nashville (rented a house from Earl Scruggs). Currently lives in North Carolina.
• A Nashville session musician (guitar and banjo); performed regularly with "The Sidemen."
• Formerly a member of the Nashville Grass and Lonesome Standard Time.
• Heroes: Uncle Dave Macon and Earl Scruggs.
• Is a close friend of Scruggs. Helped him regain his strength following hip surgery by working out with him on a regular basis.
• 1996, joined John Hartford's String Band.

BOB PERILLA (See BIG HILLBILLY BLUEGRASS)

• From Nashville, Tennessee. Originally from Easton, Massachusetts.
• A historian of bluegrass and country music and has performed with several bluegrass bands in Massachusetts, Texas, and Tennessee.
• Formerly performed with a gospel group called Zion Mountain Bleugrass and the Andy Owens Project.
• 1990, got a degree in pastoral ministry from Southwestern Assembly of God University. Served as a minister of music at a church in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
• Has also worked as a fish delivery truck driver, a telemarketer, and a landscaper.
• 1998, formed his band "1946."
• Band name comes from the year the "original bluegrass band" (Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys including Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and Chubby Wise) first recorded. They wear vintage 1940's attire when performing.
• 2001, became first band to be officially sponsored by the Gibson Bluegrass Showcase in Nashville.
• 2003, toured with Brooks and Dunn.

• From Nashville, Tennessee.
• An all-female band formed in 1988 by Andrea Campbell (Roberts).
• Broke up after the first year, but Roberts recruited new members and started again the following year.
• Gena Britt (New Vintage, Lou Reid and Carolina, etc.) Was a member of this band.
• Several members of Petticoat Junction, past and present, attended South Plains College in Levelland, Texas—the only college that offers a degree in bluegrass music.
• Roberts previously worked with Wendy Smith and Blue Velvet, a Detroit-based band.
• 1998, group was disbanded. Roberts joined the Chicago-based band Special Consensus.

• From Lincolnton, Georgia.
• Son of Earl and Janis Phillips (Janis is one of the "girls" in the Lewis Family).
• Began performing on stage with the Lewis Family at age 2.
• At age six, played banjo on a Carol Burnett CBS-TV special.
• Has traveled with the Lewis Family all his life (since 1972).
• He is a big fan of the rock group Van Halen.
• 2001, released a solo album.

• From the San Francisco Bay area. Lives in Redwood Valley, on a vineyard.
• Has been playing bass since age 11.
• Also plays mandolin.
• 1975, was an original member of David Grisman's Quintet.
• 1980, was an original member of the Tony Rice Unit.
• Has also worked with The Good Old Persons, Laurie Lewis, Psychograss and The Bluegrass Album Band.
• 1996, produced the Grammy winning album "True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe," which also won the 1997 IBMA award for Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year.
• Is also a luthier, photographer and a graphic artist.
• 1998, joined New Grange with Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Tim O'Brien and Alison Brown. Also performs with Laurie Lewis and her Bluegrass Pals.
• 2000, formed a trio with Matt Flinner and David Grier ("Phillips, Grier and Flinner").

• From Charlottesville, Virginia.
• Formed in 2000.
• Members: David Coffey (guitar), Eddie King (mandolin), Randy Driskill (banjo), Jim Green (bass).

CORY PIATT

• From Winston-Salem, NC. Currently lives in Nashville.
• Began playing the mandolin at age 7 performing at contests and festivals with his family group, The Piatt Family.
• 2009, joined the Texas-based gospel group Appointed.
• 2011, joined the Kenny and Amanda Smith band.
• 2012, released first solo project "Daydreams" on Patuxent Records.

• From Champaign, Illinois.
• A banjo player who was inspired as a teen by Bela Fleck.
• 2002, played in a college jamband called Waffle Hoss, also worked with Czech guitarist Slavek Hanslik,
• 2003, joined Leftover Salmon.
• 2004, joined the John Cowan Band.
• 2004, released solo project on Compass Records.
• 2006, joined Chris Thile's band.
• 2010, won the first annual Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass ($50,000). This was not a competition but a surprise award given by Martin and selected by a panel of judges including Earl Scruggs, Pete Wernick, Tony Trischka, Anne Stringfield, Alison Brown, Neil V. Rosenberg, Béla Fleck and Martin himself.

• From Knoxville, Tennessee.
• A group that recorded for Rounder and CMH records in the 1970's.
• Featured Bud Brewster (guitar), Larry Mathis (banjo), Jim Smith (mandolin), Randall Collins (fiddle), Jerry Moore (fiddle) and Ray Rose (bass).
• 1997, Brewster, Mathis and Smith reunited to form a new group called The Knoxville Bluegrass Band.

• From Monroe, North Carolina.
• A Dobro™ player, uncle to the Rice Brothers (Tony, Larry, Wyatt and Ron.)
• Has toured and recorded with the Larry Rice Band.
• Has also toured and recorded with Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers Band.
• Inventor of the "Dex Belt"– a belt for musicians with a leather buckle to prevent scratching of instruments.

POOR MAN'S POISON

• From Hanford, California.
• Members: Ryan Hakker (guitar), Mike Jacobs (guitar), Tommy McCarthy (mandolin), Dustin Medeiros (bass).
• Classify their music as folk, Americana, acoustic.
• 2011, released "Friends With the Enemy" CD.

THOMAS PORTER

• From Phoenix, Arizona
• Plays guitar and mandolin.
• A man of many talents, he is also a licensed massage therapist, a web designer, graphic artist, illustrator, videographer and gardener/farmer.
• 2002, joined Just-N-Time, a Phoenix bluegrass band.
• 2005, joined the Copper River Band
• His song "Teddy Bear Revival" was recorded by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver.
• 2009, recorded solo project (self-titled) featuring guests Ron Block, Charlie Cushman, Sierra Hill, Adam Steffey, others.
• 2011, released "116 Trolley Days" CD.

• From Monroe, North Carolina. He owned a farm and studio there called "Bluegrass Hill."
• Began musical career in 1954.
• Recorded two albums for RCA, produced by Chet Atkins. He and his band "The Country Pardners" were the first bluegrass artists to record in what was then called "high fidelity."
• Was a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in the 1950's. Also worked with Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys.
• 1960's, made several guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry with his wife Betty.Bill Monroe saw Price's show in 1965, and because Price had added electric guitars and drums to his band, Monroe stopped speaking to Price. 24 years later (1989) Price and Monroe reconciled and renewed their friendship. In 1991, they performed together once again.
• Due to personal tragedy (his wife died, as did two of his children), Bill left the music business for several years.
• 1984, remarried and resumed his musical career.
• Died in September of 2000.

• From Uneeda, West Virginia.
• Began pro career as fiddler with the Goins Brothers Band.
• 1995-2003, was a member of Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys.

• From Johnson City, Tennessee.
• A gospel-singing bluegrass band which has been performing since the mid-seventies.
• Formed by Rev. Winfield Shelton to sing in his church.
• They are best known on the southern-gospel music circuit.

• From Haywood County, North Carolina.
• Has played banjo with Ricky Skaggs, Jimmy Martin, James Monroe and The Whites.
• 1997, played banjo on Ricky Skaggs' Grammy-winning "Bluegrass Rules" album.

THE PUNCH BROTHERS (See also CHRIS THILE, NICKEL CREEK)

• From Nashville, relocated to New York City in 2008.
• Formed in 2007 by Chris Thile (formerly of Nickel Creek), enlisting the musicians from his solo project "How to Grow a Woman from the Ground."
• Band includes Chris Eldredge, guitar (formerly of the Infamous Stringdusters), Noam Pikelny, banjo (Leftover Salmon, John Cowan), Greg Garrison, bass (Leftover Salmon) and Gabe Witcher, fiddle (Laurel Canyon Ramblers, Jerry Douglas).
• Band name comes from a Mark Twain recollection of a sign in a subway station instructing conductors to: "Punch brothers! Punch with care! Punch in the presence of the passenjare." (Conductors punched subway tickets at the start of the ride.)
• 2008, released first album.
• 2008, bassist Greg Garrison left the band; replaced by Paul Kowert (formerly with Mike Marshall's Trio).
• 2010, toured with Steve Martin.
• 2010, recorded with Dierks Bentley on his "Up On the Ridge" CD.
• 2010, appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
• 2011, toured with Paul Simon.

• An eclectic instrumental group featuring Darol Anger (fiddle), David Grier (guitar), Mike Marshall (mandolin), Todd Phillips (bass), and Tony Trischka (banjo).
• Released first album "Like Minds" in 1996.
• Released second album in 2005.

DALE PYATT

• From Viburnern, Missouri (in the Ozarks). Grew up in Columbia, Missouri.
• Best known as a singer-songwriter.
• Co-wrote the song "Life Goes On," from the award-winning album by "Musicians Against Childhood Cancer."
• Wrote "Run Secretariat Run" which was performed at the 2011 Secretariat Festival in Louisville.
• 2013, released project of his original songs.