Cary Black

Cary Black is a bassist, teacher, vocalist, and producer who lives in Olympia, Washington.  Described by Alan Senauke in Sing Out! magazine as “a musician's musician,” Cary is at home in a wide variety of musical settings.

His performance and recording credits include work with Laurindo Almeida, Ernestine Anderson, Tex Beneke, The Boys of the Lough, Bob Crosby, Nokie Edwards, Dan Hicks, The Kingston Trio, Laurie Lewis, Rose Maddox, Mollie O'Brien, Eddie Pennington, Johnny Ray, Kay Starr, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Ernie Watts, and Claude “Fiddler” Williams.

Cary has toured extensively, appearing at festivals and concerts throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.  He has made numerous radio appearances including the Grand Ole Opry and A Prairie Home Companion; and he has performed on the PBS, ABC, FOX, and TNN television networks.  During the period when Cary played and sang with Laurie Lewis and Grant Street, the band was awarded the Song of the Year and Entertainers of the Year honors by the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Cary taught music theory and improvisation for six years at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, and has taught upright bass for twenty years at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop.  He has also taught bass at the California Coast  Music Camp, Greater Yellowstone Music Camp, Bluegrass at the Beach, B.C. Bluegrass Workshop, Sound Acoustic Music Camp, and Wintergrass Academy.

Julie Davis

Julie Davis has long been at the heart of Denver's folk music scene, so much so that at Swallow Hill, the second largest folk music school in the nation is now known as the Julie Davis School of Music. 

Julie has been bringing music to people’s lives for most of her own. Harry Tuft, owner of the Denver Folklore Center and the granddaddy of Denver folk music, says that “Julie was the second employee of the Folklore Center, and the youngest.” At age fourteen, she and Harry struck a deal: he’d teach her intermediate guitar; in return, she’d teach a beginner class for him. Over forty years later, she’s still teaching and making a difference through music.

Besides performing, Julie teaches guitar, recorder, pennywhistle, flute, autoharp, and beginning piano, and offers group classes on guitar, singing, storytelling, ensembles, and performing.

Dave Firestine

Dave Firestine is probably best known as the jam leader at the Carp Camp, an institution at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS.  The Carp Camp is the center of the universe for fiddle tune jamming, where one can hear Irish, old-time, New England and French Canadian tunes from the crack of noon to the wee hours of the morning.  Dave's style is eclectic, incorporating a blend of old time and Irish styles. He is especially fond of tunes that have a unique twist, or sets that introduce interesting changes of tempo or keys to perk up the listener's ears.

Dave plays mandolin, banjo, bouzouki, bodhran, and guitar with three bands around Tucson, AZ: Round the House, the Privy Tippers and The New Potatoes.  As a Roster Artist for the Arizona Commission on the Arts, he teaches workshops in schools.  He also co-hosts the Tucson Irish session and old time/contra dance music session and leads jams and teaches workshops at the Tucson Folk Festival, Sharlot Hall Music Festival, the Dewey Dulcimer Festival and the CTMS Summer Solstice Music Dance and Storytelling Festival.

Go to Dave's home page.

Tim May

Tim May is one of today’s hottest flatpickers, period.  For fifteen years, he performed with the progressive bluegrass band Crucial Smith, playing most of the high-profile festivals in the country including Telluride, Winfield and Winterhawk.  In 2002-2003 he toured with Patty Loveless in support of her bluegrass albums Mountain Soul and White Snow: A Mountain Christmas.  In 2005, he recorded on Charlie Daniels’ album Songs from the Long Leaf Pines, and was solo guitarist on the Grammy-nominate track I’ll Fly Away.

Tim has also toured with John Cowan Band, performed at the Grand Ole Opry as a member of Mike Snider’s Old Time String Band and recently played on the all-star Rounder recording Moody Bluegrass: a Nashville Tribute to the Moody Blues, of which Mark Hurley of Higher and Higher, the Moody Blues fan magazine, said “The jaw-dropping guitar solo on The Voice would cause Eddie Van Halen to weep from insecurity.” 

Tim's taught at Nashville Guitar College, South Plains College and Nashcamp, and is a national clinician for Breedlove guitars.

Of his playing, Pat Flynn said “Tim always says that I influenced him, but the truth is that I’ve learned something every time I play with him.  I owe him a lot,” and Dan Crary said simply, “Tim May has just become one of my favorite guitar players.”

See a few videos of Tim.

Go to Tim's home page.

Raul Reynoso 

Guitarist, singer and composer Raul Reynoso was born in Los Angeles, California.  He started playing bluegrass guitar in 1974 and soon acquired the skills that would earn him two California State Flatpicking Guitar championships as well as many Western regional titles.  Today, he is most noted for his expertise on acoustic guitar and mandolin with a mastery of styles ranging from bluegrass and western swing to ‘30s jazz in the tradition of the legendary Django Reinhardt.

Raul first rose to prominence in the band of banjo virtuoso Larry McNeely, and his three-year stint with the band included one recording and two appearances on the Grand Ole Opry.  The release of Raul’s CD “Royal Street” has brought Raul international acclaim from jazz reviewers in the US, UK and Europe.  The instrumental and compositional skills displayed on his CD have solidified his position as one of the world’s greatest guitarists.  Music critic Jim Hilmar said “When it comes to guitar styles, Raul Reynoso’s clean, lithe, articulate picking technique is to die for.”

Along with John Jorgenson, Raul is one of the pioneers of the Gypsy Jazz movement, and has been nominated Instrumentalist of the Year three times by the Western Music Association. 

Raul has taught privately for over 35 years, and has done workshop and clinics for the last fifteen. He is a mentor at the Booher Family Music Camp, and has done workshops with John Jorgenson for the JazzMasters Workshop.  Raul has also taught Bluegrass workshops with Dan Crary, John Moore, Beppe Gambetta, and Steve Kaufman.

See a few videos of Doug.

Go to Doug's home page

Orrin Star

Orrin Star is a nationally recognized folk & bluegrass performer and teacher whose performances combine hot picking, cool singing and good humor. Winner of the 1976 National Flatpicking Championship and once described as “Arlo Guthrie meets Doc Watson,” he plays flatpicked and fingerstyle guitar, banjo, mandolin, sings, and performs solo, duo and with his band Orrin Star & the Sultans of String. His repertoire spans old-time, western swing, fingerstyle blues, Celtic and original songwriting in addition to more mainstream bluegrass and folk material.  

An accomplished storyteller and entertainer (he worked as a stand-up comic for five years in the Boston area), he has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion and has three recordings on Flying Fish Records. He is the author of the popular Oak Publications book Hot Licks for Bluegrass Guitar, and is a columnist for Flatpicking Guitar magazine.  

See a few videos of Orrin

Go to Orrin's home page