RockyGrass Academy

Bio coming soon...

Bio coming soon...

Sandy has been a long-time instructor at the Academy and helped shape its programming since its inception. He has been teaching music classes at Colorado Mountain College and at his music store Great Divide Music in Aspen, since 1976. Sandy is a multi-instrumentalist and currently performs with the Flying Dog Bluegrass Band from Aspen. Sandy is one of only two instructors that have taught at every Academy since 1992. Having created a loyal student following both in Aspen and Lyons, he will once again be serving as a guitar instructor this year.

Bryn grew up in Livermore, CA where her mother (mathematician/flutist) and father (chemist/vocalist) started her on piano at age three. After moving through flute, violin, and french horn, Bryn eventually settled on the cello and upright bass. She attended the Berklee College of Music on a scholarship, majoring in Jazz Performance. After meeting a bunch of bluegrassers in Boston, she joined the Two High String Band. After relocating to Austin, she met Peter Rowan and started playing with him in the fall of '98. A year later Tony Rice joined to form the Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet. Bryn currently lives in Nashville, when she's not touring with such artists as Old and in the Gray, Darrell Scott, Steve Earle and The Bluegrass Dukes, Uncle Earl, Shawn Camp, Jim Lauderdale, Tony Rice Unit, or many others. Most recently Bryn has performed with Patty Griffin on her "Children Running Through" tour.

Bio coming soon...

Eileen Carson Schatz, Founding Director of Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble since 1979, has toured internationally including guest choreographer and performer in Riverdance in London and with the Smithsonian Institute in Japan. Footworks has performed at Merlefest, Greyfox, Icons, and many other festivals, as well as the Kennedy Center and performing arts centers and universities across the country. Eileen was the artistic director and choreographer for the production of Tim O’Brien’s “The Crossing” with dance.  As Artistic Director, choreographer, dancer and lead vocalist for Footworks, she has received a National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship, a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award, an “Annie” Award for Performing Artist from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, MD, won the national Chris Austin Songwriting Competition, and was selected Artist of the Year by Young Audiences of Maryland in 2006. Eileen has performed and taught for over 30 years and is a 2007 graduate of the Teaching Artist Institute of Maryland.

Originating from a group of music camp counselors working in Cordova, AK in 1999, Bearfoot won the 2001 Telluride Bluegrass Festival band competition – an honor they share with past recipients Nickel Creek and the Dixie Chicks. Dropping the “Bluegrass” from their name to signify their expanding musical boundaries into the wider frontiers of acoustic Americana and folk, the five-piece band has toured across the U.S., including a prestigious showcase at IBMA. The band’s fiery acoustic interplay, twin fiddles, and five strong lead vocalists have been featured on their two CDs, including 2007’s Follow Me, produced by Gene Libbea. In 2002, Kate Hamre created the Bluegrass Camps for Kids – adapting the format from the camps in Anchorage and Cordova. Bearfoot created the RockyGrass Kids Camp.

Bio coming soon...

Bio coming soon...

Kate started playing music when she was about eight years old. Her first instrument was piano, which she played for a number of years, until she discovered that she would never grow big enough to carry it to jam sessions. She began playing the fiddle in sixth grade, taking private lessons with Mary Schallert and Frank Solivan II. The following year, she started playing bass for her school since its orchestra had no bass players. Soon after, she became interested in playing bluegrass bass, and Bearfoot increased her musical growth dramatically when they started touring her freshman year of high school. Kate spent three years managing “Bluegrass Camps for Kids”, a program that instructs more than 250 kids every summer on how to play bluegrass music. She now owns this business, and runs the camps around the U.S., Canada, and Ireland. Kate also acts as Bearfoot’s manager as well as being a full time Elementary Education student. When Kate isn’t playing bass, she likes to downhill ski, hike, fish, eat coffee ice cream, and call Angela about band matters.

Mike Mickelson provides Bearfoot's rhythm and flat-picking guitar work on his 1948 Martin D-18. In addition to playing his guitar, Mike writes songs about his adventures in Alaska. His claim to fame is that he has about 40 half written songs, and one day he will sit down and hash them out. Born and raised in Cordova, Alaska, he spent most of his childhood ten miles out of town by boat at his family's birding lodge. Without distractions like electricity or a real bathroom, he concentrated on playing guitar, exploring the wilds of Alaska, skiing, snowboarding, surfing, or fixing what was broken around the house. Mike is notorious for his great story telling, so if you ever have the need to get your Alaskan story fix, Mike is the man to talk to. You will most likely find him doing homework for his Elementary Education degree or under the hood of his ’69 Ford, broken down on the side of the road. Unfortunately his truck is not all that breaks.

Jason Norris is known for being the “I’m gonna go out and jam with everyone at this festival” guy in the band. He started playing mandolin at age 9, learning from Alaskan locals. His enthusiasm for the mandolin and bluegrass music is infectious. He is often seen at Alaskan festivals yelling “Happy Bluegrass!!!” to everyone he sees. Currently Jason is working on a framing job in the tiny town of Nome, AK, usually acknowledged as the Home of the Iditarod. When he isn’t pounding nails or playing music, Jason can be seen scaling Alaska’s mountains, snow machining, or carrying Kate’s bass.

Angela Oudean grew up in Anchorage, Alaska with a family of musicians. She had been influenced to sing and play music through various family activities like going to church, music festivals, and even singing along with the radio on long road trips. She learned to play the fiddle and guitar by taking lessons, attending acoustic music camps for kids, listening to CDs, and watching her family and friends play. Angela was in many childhood bluegrass and folk bands that performed all over Anchorage. When she was 16, Angela became a part of Bearfoot and began to get more serious about playing bluegrass fiddle after traveling and performing more than she had ever done before. After graduating high school, Angela decided to attend East Tennessee State University. While in Johnson City, Angela plays fiddle with an up and coming singer/songwriter group called the Everybodyfields. Angela is planning on graduating college May of 2006 with Bachelor of Science in Sociology, and a minor in Bluegrass.

Odessa hails from Northern California and now hangs her hat in Nashville, TN. Odessa began playing violin at age 4 and has been heavily involved in the classical music community. She has played with the Santa Rosa symphony and made her debut at Carnegie Hall at the age of 13 with the Young Peoples' Chamber Orchestra. Odessa has shifted her focus to bluegrass and old-time fiddle, becoming a full-time member of the Biscuit Burners for several years. Since moving to Nashville she has been welcomed by the local music community not only for her amazing ear for harmony and melody on her instrument, but also for her heart warming vocals and unique but familiar songwriting style.

Michael Hornick is the builder of Shanti Guitars. After building his first guitar in 1985, he worked at Santa Cruz Guitar Company, and presently works alone in his shop in Avery, California, building about twelve instruments a year. Michael has built the first place guitar prize for the nationally recognized Telluride Troubadour contest from its inception in 1991, and helped design the original mandolin and mandola kits. His love of lutherie is reflected in the high quality of craftsmanship found in each of his custom instrument. Michael has assisted students in the building of well over one hundred mandolin kits over the past fifteen years.

Dan Roberts has been intimately involved in instrument production for both Gibson and Flatiron.  He spent five years as production manager and builder at the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. He presently lives in Montana and is the service manager and repairman for the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. He has offered his expertise at the RockyGrass Academy for the last nine years.

Bobby Wintringham is returning for his fifth year as an instructor at the Academy's mandolin building experience. He is a full time luthier building San Juan Mandolins in his shop in Dolores, Colorado.  Says Bobby, "The only thing more rewarding than building instruments is being able to share that knowledge with others."

Gary Lundy has been assisting Michael and Dan in the Mandolin Building class since 2000. He apprenticed with Dan and has now built three mandolins and two guitars. The third guitar is on its way. In 2005 Gary began Lundy Guitars and has begun taking orders. In his other life he's a Professor of English at the University of Montana-Western. He lives in Dillon, Montana.

Chuck has known Michael Hornick since 1992, owns a Shanti guitar, and has assisted Michael with the mando building class since 2002. Each year Chuck produces a mandolin while assisting other students with theirs. In his other life, he is a master mechanic building hot rods in California.

Marcus has been building and repairing instruments for 15 years. He graduated from a four year guitar building school in Norway and received his bachelor degree in classical guitar making in Germany. Marcus apprenticed with Dan Roberts and worked for Santa Cruz Guitars for 2 years doing high end acoustic guitar repairs. He is currently building and repairing instruments full time in Bozeman, Montana. Marcus has been helping with the mandolin building experience since 2006.