The Bluegrass University at Jenny Brook includes seven beginner classes for adults.  The classes are two and a half hours of hands-on instruction.

UNIVERSITY PREVIEW:  Friday at 6:30 pm.  Learn about the Classes & Teachers at the Bluegrass University found on the map in your program book!

MEET & GREET:  Saturday at 1:00 pm.  Meet and get to know your potential teachers.

Students Per Class:  Minimum = 3, Maximum = 9.

MEET THE 2022 BLUEGRASS UNIVERSITY INSTRUCTORS

Banjo – Bruce Stockwell

Bruce Stockwell has been playing bluegrass banjo since 1968 and teaching since the ’70s. By age 16 he had won banjo contests, recorded his first album, and opened for Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, John Hartford, and many others. In the late ’70s he worked with Phil Rosenthal and Mike Auldridge as Old Dog producing two albums on Flying Fish. Since the 1980s, Bruce has performed with his two brothers (and now wife Kelly) in various acoustic/electric formats, currently as the Stockwell Brothers Band. In 2005 he won the Merlefest Banjo Contest, and in 2008 a NH Arts Grant led to the formation of Hot Mustard, a double-banjo bluegrass band.

Mandolin – Tony Watt

IBMA and SPBGMA award-winning bluegrass musician Tony Watt has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and on the Grand Ole Opry. He has toured with Alecia Nugent, Leigh Gibson, and Alan Bibey & Grasstowne, and his videos on YouTube have over 950,000 views. Tony is the BBU’s Vice President and at Berklee, he is a Five-Week Summer Program Faculty Member and an American Roots Music Program visiting artist. He led Ashokan’s First-Ever Bluegrass Camps and was the Jam- and Beginner-Track Coordinator for Guitar & Mandolin and Banjo Camp North. Tony also presents JamVember, a bluegrass jamming “non-festival”, and is the new host of Bluegrass Tuesdays at Lily P’s in Cambridge, MA, one of the longest-running and most-successful bluegrass nights in history. Tony currently teaches lessons, classes, and jam sessions throughout the Boston area and anywhere in the world via Zoom.

Fiddle – Cathy Day

Cathy Day began performing at age 10 with her parents and sister in the Rose City Bluegrass Band which played numerous shows throughout the Northeast US during the 80s. As a teen, she arranged and taught the harmonies to her band, and taught fiddle, bass, and dobro. She was a member of the award-winning all-girl band, SassyGrass, and the New Hampshire-based band Marcy Hill. She has a passion for passing on bluegrass music as an instructor at Bluegrass Kids Academies, hosting music jams, and Wernick classes in her home. She demonstrates bluegrass music to kids in the schools, plus still finds time to teach in her spare time. Cathy is a point person for the newly formed Connecticut Bluegrass Association.

Singing – Tim FitzPatrick

Tim FitzPatrick grew up attending bluegrass festivals throughout the Northeast and absorbing the songs he heard on and off stage. Since then, he’s performed at the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, Club Passim, the Rose Garden Coffeehouse, and for Bluegrass Tuesdays now at Lily P’s. Tim performed live and recorded two CDs of string band music with the Hi-Tone Ramblers (Inner Space and Bedbug Blues). In any setting, listeners appreciate his powerful singing and solid rhythm guitar playing. Some even tolerate his sense of humor.

Dobro – Dave Bevins

Dave Bevins (dobro wizard) started at home with his family, The Chilson Hill Gang.  As a teenager, he guested many times with the Country Gentlemen and Don Stover.  He became a 4-year member of Green Mountain Bluegrass with Dan & Stan Tyminski and after that joined the Mardi Gras band.   In 2003 he won the National Resonator Dobro guitar competition.  Dave has appeared & recorded with John Cowan, Pat Flynn, Scott Vestal, Victor Krauss, Andrea Zohn, & Andy Leftwich.  He also has a CD recorded in Nashville, produced by Pat Flynn & engineered by Bert Battaglia, who also engineered Belas Fleck’s ‘Perpetual Motion’ CD. For the last 15 years, he’s performed at festivals from Indiana to Georgia and here in the northeast with the Atkinson Family.

Bass – John Savold

John Savold has been playing bass (both upright and electric) for over 45 years and has performed throughout New England in various bands playing R&B, Jazz, and more. He has concentrated solely on bluegrass for the past 7 years and performs regularly at The Burren and The Bebop as well as various in jams including at Bluegrass Tuesdays at Lily P’s. He has also performed at various New England bluegrass festivals such as Podunk and Thomas Point Beach.

Guitar – Betsy Rome

Betsy Rome is well-known for her flatpicked guitar, blending bluegrass, old-time, Celtic, & swing influences. Noted for her rock-solid rhythm and inventive leads, she has won or placed in numerous band and instrumental contests. Betsy teaches guitar and mandolin, both in person and online. She has taught workshops at Grey Fox, Joe Val, Podunk, Winter Village and Thomas Point Beach festivals, and Marist College. A founding member of Too Blue, one of the Northeast’s most respected bands, Betsy also plays mandolin in the Walkingwood Mandolin Quartet.

All classes are $35.00 and paid to your instructor at the time of your class.

TONY WATT:  [email protected]

JENNY BROOK:  [email protected]