All About Bill

Bill Evans String Summit is a collection of well-known new acoustic all stars who come together five or six times a year to perform original instrumental music, including generous helpings of Bill’s tunes. The band features Scott Nygaard on guitar; Cindy Browne on bass; Tashina Clarridge on fiddle; Michael Witcher on dobro and (not pictured) Tristan Clarridge on fiddle and cello. Photo by Anne Hamersky.

"It's one thing to be a strong progressive banjo player; another to excel at the traditional end of the spectrum. To be able to add an indelible mark to the whole history of the instrument is getting ridiculous. High kudos to Bill Evans." Tony Trischka “The banjoist has a world view shared by a precious few. It shows in the breadth of his own bluegrass playing and, especially, through his composing. Evans infuses his work with hints of jazz, classical and music of other realms, all fitting snuggly into his conception of the bluegrass sound.” David Royko, The Chicago Tribune "He is able to reach into the banjo's past to make a sublime statement of its future...to create a sound firmly rooted in tradition but still fresh and vital." Tim Bond, Bluegrass Now "One of the best banjo pickers on the planet," Mark Wittington, San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 2006 San Francisco Bay Area musician and Virginia native Bill Evans has been involved with bluegrass music and the banjo for over twenty-five years as a player, teacher, writer and historian. He occupies a unique niche in the banjo world: celebrated worldwide for his traditional and progressive bluegrass banjo styles as well as his innovative original compositions, he also enjoys a reputation as an outstanding instructor as well as being an expert player of 19th century minstrel and classic/parlor banjo styles. His latest accomplishment is authoring Banjo for Dummies for Wiley Publications. Since its release in August 2007, Banjo For Dummies has become the largest selling banjo book in the world. Bill currently performs and tours with six-time National champion fiddle Megan Lynch. He also appears with renowned bluegrass and old time musician Jody Stecher in a unique all-banjo show called The Secret Life of Banjos. In addition, Bill is involved with two outstanding California-based bands: Bill Evans String Summit, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of Bill's original instrumental tunes. In addition, Bill performs from time to time with the Bluegrass Intentions, a traditionally oriented band featuring Alan Senauke (guitar) and Eric and Suzy Thompson (mandolin, guitar and fiddle) and Larry Cohea (acoustic bass). This band's debut recording on Native and Fine Records, Old As Dirt, has received rave reviews and international radio airplay. In addition to authoring Banjo for Dummies, Bill is also the co-author with Dix Bruce of Mel Bay's Parking Lot Pickers Songbook: Banjo Edition, a collection of 250 jam session favorites with an accompanying two CD set. For the last fifteen years, Bill has authored "Off the Record," one of the most popular monthly instructional columns for Banjo Newsletter magazine. He also hosts his own NashCamp Fall Banjo Retreat with Sonny Osborne, held each year west of Nashville, Tennessee. He has also presented banjo workshops across the country at many major folk and bluegrass festivals and has taught at virtually every important music camp, including Sore Fingers Bluegrass Week in the United Kingdom; the Midwest Banjo Camp, Lansing, Michigan; Banjo Camp North in Groton, Massachusetts; South Plains College's Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas; and the California Bluegrass Association’s Music Camp in Grass Valley, California. He also teaches private lessons out of his home in Albany, California for students at all ability levels, including intensive sessions for out of town students. Bill released his second solo project Bill Evans Plays Banjo in late 2001 on Native and Fine Records. A collection of twelve original bluegrass instrumentals along with a remake of Bill Monroe's classic "Heavy Traffic Ahead," Bill Evans Plays Banjo brings together some of the most outstanding acoustic musicians on the West Coast, including Darol Anger (fiddle), John Reischman (mandolin), Todd Phillips (bass) and Rob Ickes (dobro). Other musical guests include Missy Raines, Don Rigsby, Mike Compton, Jim Nunally, Nina Gerber, Steve Smith, Greg Spatz, Glen Duncan, and Mike Bub. In writing about this release, Chicago Tribune wrtier David Royko says "Bill Evans has created an instrumental masterpiece...an album certain to be viewed in the future as a classic" and named this recording to his Top 10 Bluegrass CDs of 2001 list. Bill Evans Plays Banjo was also named a Top 5 Bluegrass Instrumental Recording of 2001 by Dave Freeman in his County Sales newsletter. In addition, "Heavy Traffic Ahead" has been on Bluegrass Unlimited magazine's Top 30 Singles Chart for seven months, including four months in the Top 10 of that survey. To download mp3 samples from Bill Evans Plays Banjo, click here. Native and Fine, his 1995 Rounder Records debut featuring David Grier, Stuart Duncan and Mike Compton, was awarded an honorable mention for 1996 Acoustic Instrumental Recording of the Year by the Association for Independent Music (AFIM) (to hear a short sample, click here). From 1993 to 1997, Bill toured nationally with Dry Branch Fire Squad and appears on their 1996 Rounder recording Live! At Last. He co-produced and appears on Dry Branch Fire Squad member Suzanne Thomas’ Rounder Records 1998 release Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts, which features guest appearances from the Seldom Scene, the Lonesome River Band, IIIrd Tyme Out and others. This recording was named "1998 Bluegrass Recording of the Year" by Keith Lawrence of Knight-Ridder Newspapers and was a finalist for IBMA’s 1999 "Recorded Event of the Year" award. Bill has also appeared from time to time or toured with the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, Due West, Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group, Peter Rowan, Suzanne Thomas, Don Rigsby & Friends, the Lynn Morris Band, Rustler's Moon with Kathy Kallick and John Reischman. Bill was the founder/leader of the 1980’s progressive bluegrass band Cloud Valley, based out of Charlottesville, Virginia, that also included bass player Missy Raines and mandolin player Steve Smith. Bill is the co-host for the Homespun Tapes video The Banjo of Sonny Osborne and is a contributor to the Oxford University Press Encyclopedia of Country Music (1998), In addition he is the co-editor of The Banjo of J.D. Crowe from AcuTab Publications. Bill is the subject of cover stories in Muleskinner (June-July 1999), Bluegrass Now (Jan.-Feb. 1996) and Banjo Newsletter (July 1996, May 2001) magazines in addition to being included in the June, 2002 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited. Bill has three very popular instructional DVDs available from AcuTab Publications: Power Pickin' Vol. 1: Up The Neck Back-up for Bluegrass Banjo, Power Pickin' Vol. 3: Playing Backup in a Bluegrass Band and Bluegrass Banjo Master Class: Power Pickin' Vol. 4. A doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology from the University of California at Berkeley, Evans has taught courses in American music history at the University of San Francisco, the University of Virginia and Duke University. In 1994-95, he was the Associate Director of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1997, he was a artist-scholar in residence at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond as part of this university’s New Perspectives in the Arts series and more recently has been a performer in residence at Carleton College, Northfield, MN and Morehead State University, Morhead, KY. Bill was also a recipient of a Brown Foreman-Al Smith Artist Fellowship in musical composition from the Kentucky Arts Council, this state's highest award for achievement in the arts. Bill is an artist endorser for GHS Strings, American Made Banjo Strings, Osborne Chief banjos, the Colorado Case Company, and David Wadsworth bridges. He resides in Albany, California with his wife Kathy and children Jesse and Corey. To contact Bill: email at bevans@nativeandfine.com or phone Native and Fine Music at 510-559-8879 (Pacific Time Zone).

Bill is now performing with legendary musician Jody Stecher in a new concert featuring old-time, bluegrass, blues, minstrel and classic banjo styles that they call "The Secret Life of Banjos."       Bill at JamGrass 2002, Mt. Winery, Saratoga, CA, August, 2002. From left to right: James Kerwin, bass; David Grisman, mandolin; Bill Evans, banjo; Sam Grisman, bass (behind Bill); Sam Bush, mandolin. Photo by Jon Sievert, www.humblepress.com         The Bluegrass Intentions bring eons of musical experience to a musical collective which blends traditional bluegrass, old-time, cajun and blues music to come  up with their unique “Old As Dirt” sound. The band features some of the best known names in traditional music: Eric Thompson on mandolin and guitar; Suzy Thompson on fiddle and vocals; Alan Senauke on guitar, mandolin and vocals and Larry Cohea on bass. Photo by Irene Young.