Bio

Photo by Jeanne Christopher

For the last twenty years, I’ve worked as a fiddler-for-hire in Minnesota and around the country, performing, recording and/or touring with dozens of bluegrass, Americana and alternative country acts, including bluegrass legends James King and Alan Munde as well as a range of local and national Americana artists including Bellwether, Tina Schlieske, Dana Thompson, Eliza Blue and Vic Chesnutt.

2011 is shaping up to be a busy year. In addition to performing with 2008 RockyGrass Band Competition winners The High 48s, I’m currently at work on a album with The Minor Planets, my longtime countrypolitan collaboration with Dana Thompson — our first CD release together in a decade.

I will also soon begin work on a Minnesota State Arts Board funded project, a cross-genre collection of tunes gathered from Upper Midwestern fiddlers, which will be released in early 2012. And in spring 2011, I launched American Strings along with Anthony Ihrig of The High 48s. American Strings is a neo-traditional bluegrass that builds on the long tradition of duets in bluegrass, from the classic banjo-fiddle repertoire to “brother harmony” duet singing.

In addition to keeping up a busy performance schedule, I also give private fiddle lessons out of my studio in Saint Paul and lead bluegrass fiddle workshops for all ages and levels of experience. For more on that, check out the Lessons page.