Suwannee Banjo Camp

Camp Photos: Click on the photo below to view a collection of photos taken during SBC 2006. L-R (Standing): Mac Benford, Alan Jabbour, Chuck Levy, Mark Johnson, Ken Perlman. Bob Carlin. L-R (Seated) Bill Paine, Fay Baird.

Directors

Ken Perlman has served as music director or co-director for several banjo teaching festivals, including the American Banjo Camp, Banjo Camp North, Bath Banjo Festival, Maryland Banjo Academy, Midwest Banjo Camp, Northeast Heritage Music Camp and Suwannee Banjo Camp. He is also on the teaching staff for SBC. You can find a more detailed biography for him among the instructor and accompanist bios.

Chuck Levy,Chuck Levy is a well known Florida fiddler and banjoist. He has served as the president of the Florida State Fiddlers Association, Director of the Banjo Contest at the Florida Folk Fest and is an olditime banjo consultant to Gold Tone. He is also on the teaching staff for the SBC. You can find a more detailed biography for him among the instructor and accompanist bios.

Greg C. Adams is one of the rising stars in the current revival of interest in early banjo. Greg is a highly-acclaimed player of minstrel, or stroke style down-picking. Also an accomplished player of classic banjo (old-fashioned fingerstyle), he was Grand Prize winner in this category at the 2009 Charlie Poole Music Festival (Eden, NC). Greg has made two trips to West Africa to study the Jola ekonting (akonting) (2006, 2008) and was co-recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Apprenticeship Award to study the 4-string ngoni with renowned griot Cheick Hamala Diabaté. Greg is currently a graduate student in the Ethnomusicology Program at University of Marylandand is also Project Director of the Banjo Sightings Database Project. His personal website is www.myspace.com/banjargreg

Native Floridian Scott Anderson has been performing in professional bluegrass bands since the late 1980s, beginning with The Bluegrass Parlor Band. In 1993, he co-founded Endless Highway, touring the Southeast and recording one critically-acclaimed CD. Scott co-produced (with Scott Vestal) his solo project Rivers in 2001 and was featured in the November 2001 issue of Banjo Newsletter. From 2004-2006, he toured in the US and abroad as a member of The Jim Hurst Band. He currently fronts The Scott Anderson Band and plays as a duo with his daughter Amanda. In 2009 he released Another Day with daughter Amanda, and in 2011 he released his own CD Tales from the Swamp, featuring an All-Star cast. He has also performed with Claire Lynch, Vassar Clements, Clay Hess, Larry Rice, Byron Berline, Chubby Wise, Allen Shadd, the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and many others.His website is scottandersonmusic.com

Chip Arnold (Guest Faculty) is a well-known banjo picker in the old-time 2-finger style once prevalent throughout the Southern Appalachians. He first learned from North Georgia old-timers, and later from many fine banjoists across the South. The last of these was the renowned two-finger stylist Will Keys of Gray, Tennessee who became a friend and mentor, passing on much of his beautiful and unique style to Chip in the traditional "monkey see, monkey do" fashion. Chip loves to play and to bring others into the old-time banjo fold.

Cathy Barton Para has been playing banjo for more than thirty-five years in both the clawhammer and two-finger picking styles. She worked with Grandpa and Ramona Jones in their crafts shop and dinner theater in Mountain View, AR in the 1970s and 1980s, and she toured with Ramona Jones for several years. Her banjo repertoire is influenced by Grandpa and Ramona, and by Missouri fiddlers such as the late Taylor McBaine and Pete McMahan. Her musical interests also include early country music, and music from the Civil War and Lewis-and-Clark eras. She and her husband Dave Para tour the United States, Europe and Canada and are best known for performing songs and tunes collected from traditional singers and fiddlers in their home state of Missouri and the Ozarks region. Cathy won the Tennessee State Banjo Championship two times, she appeared on the "Grand Old Opry," and on the television shows "Hee Haw" and "Nashville Now." She and Dave have made ten duet recordings.

Mac Benford has been playing the 5-string banjo for 40 years. He was fortunate enough in his formative years to have direct contact with great players like Wade Ward, Kyle Creed, Tom Ashley, and Roscoe Holcomb, all of whom strongly influenced his playing. He came to prominence during the 70s as a member of the legendary Highwoods String Band. Later on, while performing and recording with the Backwoods Band and the Woodshed Allstars, Mac expanded on the traditional role of the clawhammer banjo as a lead and backup instrument. His recently released Kentucky Favorites showcases his ability to capture the melodic subtlety of complex fiddle tunes without sacrificing the ring and drive of the best traditional playing.

Paul Brown is not only one of today's most sought after banjo players, he is also a fine fiddler and singer. He started playing banjo at age ten, and has spent years learning music from some of the last fiddle, banjo, and guitar players to emerge before the age of radio and recordings in Virginia and North Carolina. Among his big banjo influences are Wade and Fields Ward, Tommy Jarrell, Gilmer Woodruff, Benton Flippen, Fred Cockerham and Kyle Creed. Many of his songs came from his mother, who learned them in the 1920s and 1930s from older musicians near Bedford, Virginia. He has played with a long list of outstanding musicians young and old, and recorded and produced highly acclaimed albums featuring old time musicians. Paul has appeared at festivals nationwide and taught at music camps since the 1970s. He has also a broadcast and print journalist, and he reports on traditional music and culture as often as he can.

Janet Davis was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Music was always an integral part of her family life. Although Janet's formal musical training was primarily in the classical field, she showed a keen, early interest in stringed instruments, particularly those involved in folk and bluegrass music. In college, she played the guitar and sang as a folk and blues musician in many of the Austin, Texas clubs, learning from such greats as Lightnin' Hopkins, Janis Joplin and others who played the same venues. Janet is equally adept on both Dobro® and 5-string banjo. Her books are popular worldwide. She has written numerous best selling books for the 5-string banjo as well as dobro. Mel Bay has several of her books listed as "Best Sellers." Janet also teaches and plays ALL bluegrass instruments and several others. She has been a columnist with Banjo Newsletter for 30 years. Janet Davis Music Company is celebrating its 28th Anniversary this year.

Mark Johnson: has revolutionized the art of clawhammer banjo by adapting its techniques and rhythms to the demands of playing in a bluegrass ensemble. He calls his banjo style Clawgrass. He has performed and recorded with many bluegrass and acoustic luminaries and is also a gifted teacher and songwriter. His most recent recording -- Acoustic Rising with Emory Lester, released on the Crossroads/Mt. Home Record Label -- was nominated by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) in 2007 as Instrumental Album of the Year. Mark has conducted countless clawhammer workshops at bluegrass and acoustic music festivals across the country, and he continues to host an annual clawhammer banjo workshop as part of the IBMA Fanfest in Nashville, Tennessee.

Gerald Jones, life-long Texan, has been involved with the performing, production and teaching of music for over 30 years. He's a skilled player in many different styles including bluegrass, western swing, country, classical, jazz, and Polish war hymns... He's played or recorded with with Jim "Texas Shorty" Chancellor, Mark O'Connor, Vince Gill, Sam Bush, Hank Thompson, Red Steagall, Jerry Douglas, Junior Brown and many more. He's the editor of Mel Bay's webzine Banjo Sessions (BanjoSessions.com), and is a frequent contributor to Joe Carr's Mandolin Sessions. Gerald invented the Acoustic Plus pickup used by Earl Scruggs, Bela Fleck, Alan Munde, Bill Keith and many other great banjo players. Gerald is also a favorite instructor at many bluegrass and roots music camps around the nation, teaching banjo, mandolin, and many special topics such as "Jam Survival Skills." Joe Carr said of Gerald, "students love him because he jams a lot with them and teaches as much out of class as in!"

Brad Leftwich is the author of the Mel Bay book Round Peak Style Clawhammer Banjo. Best known as a fiddler, Brad has in fact been playing banjo longer. He first took it up more than thirty years ago, inspired by his grandfather, a banjo picker from Carroll County, Va., and by his father, a singer and guitar player in the old-time style. Brad has learned much of his music from traditional musicians in the region formed by Surry County, N.C., and Grayson and Carroll Counties, Va., and in particular from Tommy Jarrell and other banjo players from the Round Peak community of Surry County. He was a member of the Plank Road String Band in the mid-seventies, toured with Leftwich & Higginbotham throughout the eighties and nineties, and more recently he performed with Tom Sauber and Alice Gerrard as Tom, Brad, & Alice.

Chuck Levy has earned the title of Florida's Old-Time Banjo Champ, as well as being a prize-winning Florida fiddler. Originally from Ohio, has been playing old-time music in north central Florida of the last 11 years. He is equally at home on the fiddle, the 5 and 6 string banjos (five strings plus a short string), whether fretted or fretless, playing clawhammer, 2 finger up-picking, or minstrel styles. Chuck also plays the akonting (ekonting), an African ancestor to the banjo, which he studied in The Gambia and Senegal. Chuck directs and teaches at SBC and the Stephen Foster Old-Time Music Weekend, and also has taught at the Mars Hill Blue Ridge Old-Time Music Week. He is the founder and past president of the Florida Banjo Society and a past president of the Florida State Fiddlers Association. Chuck teaches fiddle and banjo in Gainesville, Florida. Chuck is a consultant and endorsed artist for Gold Tone, which designed the OT-6, a 6-string banjo, to his specifications. His website is www.banjourneys.com.

Erynn Marshall has carved out a niche for herself as an old-time fiddler in North America and abroad. Her playing style is expressive, innovative, yet rooted in tradition. She has played for over thirty years and has performed and taught at many music camps, festivals and concert venues across North America. Erynn learned her Appalachian fiddling style from visiting 80-90 year-old southern fiddlers over the course of fifteen years (many of whom have now passed on). In 2008, she won first place in the open fiddle category at "Clifftop" (The Appalachian Stringband Festival) in West Virginia and was the first woman and person born outside the US to do so. She has published Music in the Air Somewhere, a book on West Virginia fiddle and song traditions, and recorded three CDs: Calico, Meet Me in the Music and Shout Monah (with the Haints). Erynn now lives in Galax, Virginia where she runs the concert season at the Blue Ridge Music Center and is presently recording her new CD, Tune Tramp.

James McKinney is both a Scruggs and Reno style expert, one of the foremost jazz players of the bluegrass banjo world, and one of the most technically precise banjoists around. He won the Southern U.S. Banjo Championship at age 15. Before long he had won dozens of state and regional championships, including the National Banjo Championship at Winfield, Kansas. He made the first of several appearances on the Grand Ole Opry at age 19 and worked for a time at Opryland theme park as a banjoist and musical arranger. James moved to Nashville for good in 1990 to play full time in the James and Angela McKinney Band. He has taught countless workshops, and he has been on the staff at a number of major banjo camps, including the Midwest Banjo Camp, Smokey Mountain Banjo Academy, and the SPBGMA workshop. He has performed and/or recorded with Vassar Clements, Porter Wagoner, Barbara Mandrell, John Hartford, and Johnny Cash. His latest CD is called "Mind Over Banjo." His web site is www.mckinneybanjo.com

Alan Munde needs no introduction to long-time Bluegrass fans. From his early creative work with Sam Bush in Poor Richard's Almanac to his traditional bluegrass apprenticeship with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys to his 21-year stint anchoring the landmark Country Gazette, Alan has blazed a trail as one of the most innovative and influential banjo players of all time. Along the way, Alan also recorded and contributed to numerous instrumental recordings, including the 2001 IBMA Instrumental Album of the Year -- Knee Deep in Bluegrass. Alan has supplemented his recorded work with several instructional publications for the banjo; from 1986-2006 he taught Bluegrass and Country Music at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. For more on Alan's career click here.

Ken Perlman. Perhaps the best-known exponent of the "melodic" clawhammer style, Ken is known wherever banjos are played as a master of clawhammer technique and an expert teacher of clawhammer mechanics. He has been a Banjo Newsletter columnist for over 25 years; he has written several books on clawhammer instruction including the well known works Melodic Clawhammer Banjo and Clawhammer Style Banjo , and he has recorded several series of audio and video banjo instruction. He has taught at well over a score of banjo and general music camps including the American Banjo Camp, Banjo Camp North, Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Common Ground on the Hill, Maryland Banjo Academy, Midwest Banjo Camp, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Smokey Mountain Banjo Academy, and the Tennessee Banjo Institute. His most recent recording -- a duo project with fiddler Alan Jabbour -- is called Southern Summits. His most recent solo recording is Northern Banjo, and his most recent book is Everything You Wanted to Know About Clawhammer Banjo . For more on Ken, go to his website, www.kenperlman.com

Tony Thomas (Guest Faculty) A leading scholar of African American banjo, Tony organized the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University that launched the contemporary Black Banjo revival. His research on Black banjo playing and fiddling is forthcoming from University of Illinois Press, Duke University Press, and African American National Biography, and is a joint project of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and Oxford University Press. Tony has offered programs on Black Banjo playing at the Banjo Collectors Gathering, Banjo Camp North, and the Blue Ridge Old Time Music Week at Mars Hill College. He has performed on voice, guitar, and banjo at festivals and other venues devoted to old-time music, blues and folk music in the US, Britain, and Western Europe.

Tony Trischka is one of the most influential banjo players in the roots music world. For more than 35 years, his stylings have inspired a whole generation of bluegrass and acoustic musicians. He was not only considered among the very best pickers, he was also one of the instrument's top teachers, and has created numerous instructional books, audio recordings, and videos. In the 1970s, Trischka made his recording debut with the bands Country Cooking and Breakfast Special. In the early 1980s, he began working with the group Skyline, which recorded a number of CDs between 1983 and '88. Along the way, he has recorded numerous solo recordings, including Bluegrass Light, Heartlands, Banjoland, Robot Plane Flies over Arkansas, Hill Country, World Turning, Bend, New Deal, and his newest: Territory. He has worked as a musical leader for Broadway shows, appeared on television, and also on National Public Radio’s Prairie Home Companion and Mountain Stage shows. In 2007, Tony was declared Banjo Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). His website is www.tonytriscka.com

Location: The camp will be held at O'Leno State Park, High Springs, Florida.

Travel: The nearest airport is in Gainesville, Florida; Jacksonville is also within a reasonable drive (It's roughly a two hour drive from O'Leno to the Jacksonville Airport).

Tuition. Our tuition rate for the regular Camp, which covers tuition and our meal plan, is $360.

Deposits. Prior to Jan. 15, 2012, students may hold a place at Camp by paying a deposit of $100 or more. After Jan. 15, 2011 all new registrations must be accompanied by full tuition payments.

Tuition Balances. If you register with a deposit, please be aware that all tuition balances must by paid in full by Jan. 15, 2012.

Tuition Rate for the Extra Day. Our Extra Day program costs only $85. This price includes tuition and meals from Thursday dinner through Friday lunch. Note that the first two meals provided for the Extra day will be relatively simple -- pizza and soft drinks for dinner, and cereal, milk, and toast for breakfast. Lunch on Friday will be prepared and served by our regular caterer.

Meal Plan. Our catered meal plan for the regular camp covers all meals from dinner on Friday, March 16 through lunch on Sunday, March 18. There will routinely be omnivore and vegetarian options at each meal; vegan meals are available, but only via special order (there is no extra charge for vegan service, but please contact us about it well ahead of camp). Students may opt out of the regular camp meal plan only by special request. Note: the regular camp meal plan does NOT include Friday lunch, but Friday lunch may now be added as an option (see below).

Friday Lunch. The regular camp meal plan begins with Friday dinner. However, students registered only for the regular camp may now opt in to the catered Friday lunch provided for our Extra Day participants. The cost is $10 per person. Just check the appropriate blank on the registration form.

Vegetarian vs. vegan. For those unsure of the distinction, entrees classed as "vegetarian" often contain dairy products such as milk or cheese. Vegan meals contain no animal products whatsoever.

Non-playing spouses and companions. Students may bring non-playing spouses and companions to SBC. They will each be charged a one-time fee of $110, for which they will be enrolled in the meal plan. They may also attend concerts, demos, jams, and other, similar programs. They may not attend classes. Please fill out a separate registration form for each spouse/companion, and write the words "non-playing enrollee" in the special needs slot.

Non-playing spouses/companions and the Extra Day. There is an additional $35 charge for non-playing spouses or companions to attend the Extra Day. This payment entitles them to have meals with the students and staff, and (if they wish) to attend all presentations, demonstrations, and jams.

Accomodations On- or Off-Site: Students have several lodging options. You can arrange to stay right on site in cabins or (if you prefer your trailer or RV) in the O'Leno campgrounds. Alternatively, you can elect to stay nearby in a hotel or motel.

Arranging for Accomodations: Arrange with us for a bed in the cabins, make reservations with O'Leno for a space in the campgrounds, and of course, make arrangements with individual motels or hotels for reservations there.

Description and cost of on-site cabins. Reserve a bed in an on-site cabin directly with us for $17.50 per night ($35 covers Friday and Saturday nights. Our package deal: $50 gives you lodging from Thursday through Saturday nights). Fill in the apropriate blank on the reservation form. The cabins are a bit rustic, but they are clean, airy, dry, and have relatively comfortable mattreses. Cabins have electricity. Showers and bathroom facilities are located in two out-buildings.

Bunk Beds. Each cabin tends to have four bunk beds (one in each corner). Although we try to avoid filling each cabin to capacity, be aware that some people staying in the cabins may have to be assigned to a top bunk. If you reserve a cabin space but have physical limitations that make getting in and out of top bunks difficult, please let us know on the registration form under "special needs." If you actually prefer a top bunk, or wouldn't mind staying in one to free up a space for the physically challenged, please let us know that as well.

Reserve Cabins Early. Cabins have sometimes begun to fill up a few weeks before Camp. To assure yourself of a bed-space, do register early! (Note also that in the absence of special needs, lower bunks will be assigned on a first come, first served basis).

Couples in the Cabins. If past experience is a guide, it is unlikely that we will be able to offer couples cabin accomodations that have real privacy. Couples who require more privacy than we can provide are encouraged to stay in the campground or reserve Motel accomodations in the region.

Camping Reservations. If you wish to stay in the campgrounds in a tent or vehicle, you must reserve that site directly with O'Leno State Park. Campsites at O'Leno and nearby parks tend to fill up fast so be sure to reserve early!

Off site accomodations. Some hotels, motels etc. in the immediate vicinity are:

• Alamo Motel, High Springs 386 454-1248
• Cadillac Motel, High Springs 386 454-1701
• Comfort Inn, Alachua 386 462-2414
• High Springs Country Inn 386 454 1565

Note: You can also explore accomodations in the nearby towns of Lake City and Gainesville, Florida -- both of which are roughly half an hour or less by car from High Springs. Because there are sometimes large regional events in late March that draw crowds (such as stock car races), be sure to make your motel reservations early.

Logistical Advice: For advice on finding the site, climate-appropriate dress, bedding, what to bring, etc. click here! Please be sure to read this advice prior to coming to camp!

Registration: You must register to attend Suwannee Banjo Camp. To register, just print out the registration form , fill it in, and send it with payment to the address indicated. You can also register by fax or on line. Note that we also ask you to fill in a questionnaire about your interests and playing background that will help us design the Camp.

About the Registration Questions. We ask about your interests and playing background on the Registration Form to help us plan the camp. Your responses do NOT commit you to take any particular class or pursue any particular level of instruction.

Registering During the Last 10 Days Before Camp? We still have plenty of room for more students, and room in the cabins for more residents. To ensure that your payments and registration forms reach us as they should, however, here are special instructions for signing up in the days immediately preceding the start of camp.

• Registrations via Email. You may continue to register via email (with credit card payment) until roughly 10PM on Wednesday, March 14. After that, we will be busy organizing and traveling to camp, and we suggest that you call (781 316 5564) to alert us that a registration form is en route. Please do not call after 11PM or before 9PM.
• Registrations via Postal Mail. You may still register by postal mail after Tues. March 6, but be sure to use Priority Mail from March 6 through Friday, March 9. Do NOT send registrations by postal mail after Friday March 9. From Sat. March 10 on, we recommend that you register by email. Email registrations are sure to get to us until roughly 10PM on Wednesday, March 14. After that, we will be busy organizing and traveling to camp, and we suggest that you call (781 316 5564) to alert us that a registration form is en route. Please do not call after 11PM or before 9PM. Note: if you prefer not to use credit cards, you may register by email and pay by check at camp. Just let us know that's your plan).
• Registering at the Event. You may register at the event if you wish. If that's your plan, please let us know by email. However, be aware that we may not get your message after 10PM on Wednesday, March 14. After that, we will be busy organizing and traveling to camp, and we suggest that you call (781 316 5564) to alert us that a registration form is en route. Please do not call after 11PM or before 9PM.

Please Register Early! We realize that it is an old Florida custom to sign up at the last minute for events of this kind, but we strongly encourage you to break with tradition and sign up for SBC well ahead of time.

Payments: Until Jan. 15, 2012, you may reserve a place at camp either by paying full tuition, or by paying a a deposit of $100. After midnight on Jan. 15, 2012 all new registrations must be accompanied by payment of full tuition. You may register right up until the start of camp, depending on space.

Tuition Balances: All those who have reserved a space with a deposit, must send in the remainder of their tuition by Jan. 15, 2012. Again, all new registrations made after that date must be accompanied by payment of full tuition.

Refunds: There is no penalty for cancellation until Feb. 15, 2012. Students who cancel after that date will have $75 deducted from their tuition or deposit refunds. Students who cancel on or after March 15, 2011 (or who simply fail to appear at camp) will have $150 deducted from their tuition or deposit refunds, except in the event of serious illness or family emergency.

SBC Work Study Program: We offer a few work-scholarships each year. The deal is as follows: we offer $150 off your tuition in exchange for 7-10 hours of work. Among the jobs you might be assigned to are helping with set-up and registration, assisting at the camp store and at meal times, serving as "go-fers," and (especially) being on call for helping to clean up the site at the end of camp. Be prepared to appear on site about an hour before check-in and to remain on site to help with cleanup for at least a couple of hours after the conclusion of Camp. Applicants should be physically fit, and should be unable to afford coming to camp without the scholarship. We would particularly like to encourage those under 25 to take advantage up this plan. If you are interested, please contact us and describe your situation. We reserve the right to discontinue this offer once we figure we have enough people signed up.

SBC Faculty-Housing Partial-Scholarship Trade. We sometimes need to house a few faculty members offsite for the duration of Camp. If you live within half an hour of O'Leno State Park and have a spare bedroom or two to offer, we would be happy to work out the following deal with you. For each faculty member you can provide with his or her own spare bedroom, we will be happy to reduce your tuition payment by $50 per night. Generally we would only house staff members off site who have their own vehicles, so you would not be responsible for their transportation. If you are interested in a Faculty-Housing trade, click here to send an email. Naturally, we reserve the right to discontinue this offer once we have all the off-site lodging we need.

On-line Payment: See registration form .

Photo Credits

- View of the Santa Fe River at top of page: Karen Jabbour
- Photos on this page from 2006, and photos on photo page 1: Margo Rosenbaum
- All photos on this page from 2007 and all photos on photo page 2007: John Malinowski
- All photos on photo page 2: Jane Perry-Camp

Send email to SBC Directors Ken and Chuck

Here's our Group Photo from the 2008 Camp