Teachers old and new

Steve Palazzo, who was one of the first full time employees at the Santa Cruz Guitar Company, has been a full time guitar teacher since 1989. Over the past few years, he has sponsored many flatpicking workshops by the likes of Steve Kaufman, David Grier, and Scott Nygaard. Since 1991, he has played in Homefire, a Santa Cruz based bluegrass band. Steve was featured in the "Local Heroes" column in the March/April 1997 issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, which included a transcription of his version of Ragtime Annie from his CD Home Sweet Home on Whiffletree Records.

Eddie Pennington has been an instructor at PSGW many times since 1989. His style of playing is the Western KY Thumbpicking style popularized by the late Merle Travis, and later incorporated by such greats as Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed. Pennington was raised near the same area in Western KY as Travis, and was able to often visit Mose Rager the man that Travis credits most for helping him learn to play.

Eddie Pennington, a licensed funeral director/embalmer and the Caldwell County Coroner, has been involved in the folk and traditional music world since 1992. In 1986 & 1987 Eddie won the National Thumbpicking Contest in Mt. View, Arkansas, and helped establish the International Thumbpicking Contest called The Home of the Legengs thumbpicking contest in Muhlenberg County, KY. He has played many National folk festivals. Other appearances have been: the Smithsonian Institution's American folklife festival in Washington DC., the 1996 Olympics, in Atlanta GA, and the NPR radio series Folkmasters & American Routes. He was part of the tour Masters of the steel string guitar in 1999, and 2000. He has been to France playing his style of music. Not only has he taught at PSGW, but also at Augusta Heritage and SAMW music camps. He is scheduled to play at the Kennedy center in Washington DC in April 2002. In 2001 he was awarded the first traditional artist award in the KY Governor's Award in the Arts. In Sept of 2001 he was awarded the nations highest award in the traditional arts, The National Heritage Fellowship Award, by the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington DC, and joins the ranks of such trditional artists as Doc Watson, BB King, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Wayne Henderson, and John Cephas. Eddie often performs with his son Alonzo and daughter Rosebud at festivals and universities. He can be reached for bookings at www.eddiepennington.com or 270-365-5152.

Ken Perlman may be best known as a banjo-picker, but he is also a world-class fingerstyle guitarist and guitar teacher. He is adept at old-time blues, ragtime and just plain folk, but his specialty is Celtic and Southern U.S. fiddle tunes arranged for fingerpicking. These tunes are played with a sparkling attack and active bass line, which gives them a sound that has been described as being reminiscent of Renaissance- and Baroque-era lute music. He has written several guitar instruction books, including "Fingerstyle Guitar," "Advanced Fingerstyle Guitar," and "Fingerpicking Fiddle Tunes." He also writes guitar instructional columns for periodicals such as "Acoustic Guitar" and "Sing Out!" For more info go to www.kenperlman.com.

A fine seasoned guitarist, Ron Peters has been playing professionally for more than 30 years. He has shared the stage with many jazz and pop luminaries including: The Manhattan Transfer, Chevy Chase, Debbie Boone, The Don Ellis Orchestra and Seattle's Pearl Django. Locally he has played with Edmonia Jarrett, Susan Pascal and The Brian Butler Band. Ron also has his own group, LIKE MINDS, with partner and guitarist Greg Glassman. In the studio Ron has been the featured guitarist on many radio and television commercials and he has numerous album credits.

A busy music educator, Ron has held faculty positions at many workshops in the US and Canada and has held an adjunct faculty position at Seattle Pacific University. Ron also teaches privately in Seattle where he lives with his wife and family.

Janet lives in Bellingham, Washington, and is a sign language interpreter for the deaf and deaf/blind. She is a member of the band Motherlode, and she is one of the year-round Coordinators for PSGW.

Faith was born on September 13, 1915 in a log cabin on a homestead near Orofino, Idaho. Real pioneer stuff! She remembers singing in her preacher-father's church at the age of three, hasn't stopped singing since, and has no intention of doing so. She is that rare being of this time, NOT a singer/songwriter. As Utah Philips says, "Faith doesn't make up songs, she harvests them ... these outrageous and wonderful songs, culled from a bevy of extraordinary minds, represent those wild, satirical, quirky, offbeat, and endearing traits that characterize the lady herself."

Stacy Phillips is a Dobro player, a fiddler, and the author of thirty books about these instruments. He has recorded and/or performed with Mark O'Connor, Bela Fleck, Leon Redbone, Eileen Ivers (from Riverdance), and Peter Rowan, and he knows someone who spoke to Bob Dylan. Stacy is a featured performer on the 1995 Grammy award-winning album The Great Dobro Sessions.