About

I’m a banjo player and multi-instrumentalist living in Boston, MA. I perform with the Peter Rowan Bluegrass band, having played on Peter's Grammy nominated album "Calling You From My Mountain." I also teach music, both private lessons and at a couple schools in the area. I’m grateful to have learned from several masters of the instrument, including Bill Keith and Tony Trischka.

 

I’m particularly interested in early bluegrass banjo styles and how they can offer alternative paths to expression within the bluegrass idiom. My first book, “Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five String Banjo” chronicles the life and music of early bluegrass banjo master Rudy Lyle by presenting  exhaustive and largely never-before-published transcriptions and analyses of every break Lyle recorded with Bill Monroe, the “father of bluegrass.” Lyle’s historical significance is explored in the final interviews given by late banjo legends Sonny Osborne and Bill Emerson, as well as interviews with several other prominent banjo players and members of Lyle’s family. Beautiful portraits of each interviewee are included alongside several never-before-published photos of Lyle himself.

 

In addition to my work as a banjo player, I’ve studied jazz guitar at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC, written songs for and co-produced the album “Cousin Moon,” played bass with psych-pop outfit Sun Parade, and have produced and recorded songs under the alias “Sir Orfeo.”