Instructors
2024

Instructors

Instructors

Instructors

Banjo

Instructors

Kristin Scott Benson

The Grascals

Kristin Scott Benson is the six-time International Bluegrass Music Association’s Banjo Player of the Year and recipient of the 2018 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.

Since 2008, she has been a member of Grammy-nominated and two-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year, The Grascals. Kristin is one of the nation’s top bluegrass banjo players, exhibiting impeccable taste, timing, and tone. With an attentive ear to back-up, she is known and respected as a true team player among her peers.

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Instructors

Frank Evans

The Slocan Ramblers

Frank Evans is a highly acclaimed banjo player and musician, widely regarded as one of the most accomplished musicians in his field. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Evans was drawn to the banjo from a young age, and sought every opportunity to surround himself with the Appalachian music of the United States. He won the youth banjo contest at the Clifftop Appalachian String Band Festival when he was 13 and later placed second overall.

Evans studied privately with some of the most renowned banjo players of his time including Chris Coole, Adam Hurt, and Jayme Stone and went on to be the first banjo player to be accepted into the Humber College of Music where he met the musicians that formed his band, The Slocan Ramblers. 

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Instructors

Jayme Stone

Jayme Stone is a musician, composer, instigator, producer and educator. On any given day, you might find him in his studio reworking a little-known hymn learned from a field recording, producing a session with musicians from Bamako or New York, creating experimental soundscapes, or tucking his kids in on time so he can get back to writing the next verse of a new song.

Stone, a “consummate team player” (Downbeat), has developed a process of trawling for understudied sounds in the more arcane corners of the world to see how they’ll land in his musical universe.

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Bass

Instructors

Charles James

The Slocan Ramblers

Charles James is a bass player and composer based in Toronto, Canada. His musical versatility has allowed him to share the stage with acclaimed artists across a wide variety of genres, and made him a fixture in some of Canada’s most reputable recording studios. His emotional depth and melodic approach to the bass have thrilled audiences all across Canada and the United States, as well as the U.K., Australia, Greece, Denmark, and Sweden. Charles has played/recorded with many notable artists including David Crosby, Sylvia Tyson, Jim Cuddy, Skydiggers, Michelle Willis, Tim Baker, Snowblink, and The Slocan Ramblers.

Instructors

Eric Thorin

Eric Thorin is a highly regarded musician/bassist living on the front range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. He can be found on stage in 2024 in The Matt Flinner Trio with Ross Martin, on the road with the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, Bonnie Paine, Tony Furtado and Celtic supergroup, The Bow Tides.

Owner of Ethoriole Music, Eric is honored to have performed on two Grammy nominated recordings: Calling You From My Mountain with The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band and Man On Fire by Danny Barnes.

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Instructors

Vickie Vaughn

Della Mae

A Western Kentucky native, Vickie Vaughn stomped into Nashville with a fistful of original material and a desire to play bass and sing with the best of them. In 2015, Vaughn released her debut EP under the production of Bluegrass royalty Ronnie McCoury before heading out on the road singing background vocals with Patty Loveless. She has been sighted sharing the stage of the Bluegrass fan favorite festival, ROMP, singing in a trio with fellow Kentuckians, Ricky Skaggs and Patty Loveless. Three Grand Ole Opry appearances later, Vickie now tours with Grammy-nominated Della Mae, who frequents the stage with greats such as Billy Strings and comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short. Vickie is also proud to be the 2023 International Bluegrass Association’s Bass Player of the Year.

Dobro

Instructors

Billy Cardine

Billy Cardine is a slide guitar pioneer, taking the dobro with him into somewhat unchartered territories and helping make them feel like home. Bluegrass Unlimited says “Billy Cardine proves to be one of the new generation of resonator guitar players who truly understands the possibilities of the instrument.” His patchwork of diverse musical influences contributes to his chameleonesque ability to fit in with whatever collaboration he joins on the stage, or in the studio. Billy was lucky enough to grow up near Mike Auldridge, his first teacher and mentor.

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Instructors

Justin Konrad

Justin Konrad has played music professionally for over thirty years, starting out on rock guitar before discovering funk, jazz and Afro-Cuban music while studying music and philosophy at Harvard University. Upon moving to Colorado he fell headlong into bluegrass and eventually found his way to the squareneck resophonic guitar, winning the Rockygrass dobro instrument contest in 2016. Justin joined Colorado bluegrass phenomenon Bowregard just before they won the 2019 Telluride Bluegrass Festival band contest.

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Fiddle

Instructors

Stuart Duncan

Stuart Duncan is a master fiddler whose virtuosity has made him one of the most sought-after musicians. He has earned four Grammy awards, many Academy of Country Music Awards, and nine titles as the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Fiddle Player of the Year.

His career is marked by his adaptability which can be heard on the hundreds of recordings where he is featured. His extensive discography boasts a myriad of session work, enriching albums across the musical spectrum.

Duncan is a founding member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band and his most recent collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile is titled the Goat Rodeo Sessions.

Instructors

Kimber Ludiker

Della Mae

Kimber Ludiker is part of a 5-generation fiddling family from Spokane, WA now living in the DC area. She started learning on the lap of her grandfather at age 3, and went on to win three National Fiddle Championship titles. She is the founder of Della Mae, a GRAMMY-nominated, service-driven, all-woman string-band that has traveled with the US Department of State to over 20 countries spreading peace and understanding through music.

Kimber was awarded Mentor of the Year at the 2022 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. She has been mentoring kids, artists, and up-and-coming bands for quite some time and is the Director of California Bluegrass Association’s Youth Academy, Ashokan Bluegrass Camp, and co-director of IBMA’s Kids on Bluegrass.

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Instructors

Natalie Padilla

“Exacting attention to detail… and an infectious energy”

-Strings Magazine

Born into a family of acclaimed roots musicians, Natalie Padilla was immersed in fiddle and violin music at a very young age. She initially studied Texas-Style fiddle under the tutelage of her mother, award-winning fiddler Nancy Padilla, and began winning contests on her own at the age of 6. Along with the traditions of Old-Time and Bluegrass Fiddle music, Natalie also has deep roots in classical violin. In 2011 she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Northern Colorado and can still be found sitting in the violin section of an orchestra.


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Guitar

Instructors

Chris “Critter” Eldridge

Punch Brothers

As a member of Punch Brothers since the band’s inception, guitarist Chris Eldridge has been at the vanguard of acoustic music for over a decade. Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, by his mid-teens Chris Eldridge had developed a deep love for acoustic music, thanks in part to his father, Ben, a banjo player and founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Eldridge later gained in-depth exposure to a variety of different musical styles while studying at Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned a degree in music performance in 2004. During his time at Oberlin, Eldridge studied with legendary guitarist Tony Rice.

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Instructors

Tyler Grant

National Flatpicking Champion Tyler Grant is an internationally recognized guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and leader of the band Grant Farm® (currently on hiatus). His latest album, Tryin’ To Have A Good Time (Americana Vibes, 2022), is a tribute to his late father. Tyler has appeared at most major US festivals and performed thousands of concerts and guitar workshops worldwide. He was an original member of the Emmitt-Nershi Band and was a sideman for Abigail Washburn, April Verch and Adrienne Young. He has produced five solo albums and six releases by Grant Farm on his own Grant Central Records. His 2018 collaborative release, Kanawha County Flatpicking, reached #14 on the US Folk DJ chart.

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Instructors

Darryl Poulsen

The Slocan Ramblers
Darryl Poulsen is a professional Canadian musician, born in Alliston, Ontario. He was naturally drawn to music and began avidly playing guitar at the age of 10. He went on to study jazz at Humber College, during which time he was awarded for his outstanding achievements. Since then, Darryl has thoroughly immersed himself within Canada’s music scene. He has made a name for himself as a guitarist, both acoustic and electric, who is highly sought after as a performer, teacher, and session artist. Well versed in a large variety of genres, Darryl found his true passion in bluegrass and has garnered a great deal of success with the international touring band, the Slocan Ramblers.
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Instructors

Avril Smith

Della Mae

Avril Smith an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, widely recognized as a highly accomplished electric and acoustic guitarist and mandolin player.

Avril currently plays lead guitar in the Grammy-nominated band Della Mae.

Her mastery of a wide range of styles makes her a sought-after on-stage and studio performer. She has been featured in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and has reviewed guitars for Acoustic Guitar Magazine.

She has performed at top venues and festivals including the Grand Ole Opry (Nashville), the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Oak Hill, NY), the Birchmere (Alexandria, VA), Rockygrass (Lyons, CO), the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (Washington, DC), the Rock-n-Roll hall of fame (Cleveland, OH), and on the south lawn of the White House.

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Mandolin

Instructors

Adrian Gross

The Slocan Ramblers

Adrian Gross was born in Montreal, lives in Toronto, and has been playing music all his life. As one of Canada’s most sought-after mandolin players, he’s developed a reputation for his inventive playing and unique voice on the instrument, always with one eye to the tradition and one looking forward. As one quarter of The Slocan Ramblers, Adrian has performed at The Grand Ole Opry and music festivals across North America, from MerleFest to RockyGrass, won the IBMA Momentum “Band of the Year” award, and been nominated for a Juno award.

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Instructors

Dominick Leslie

Hawktail/Molly Tuttle

Colorado native Dominick Leslie has been around live music all his life, having attended his first bluegrass festival when he was just five months old. Growing up he was surrounded by music, listening to and jamming with his dad’s bluegrass band, and thanks to his Dad’s influence, he has been playing instruments since he was old enough to hold one. At the age of four, Dominick acquired a ukulele tuned like the bottom four strings of a guitar, igniting a deep passion for music that still burns brightly. Dominick’s abilities progressed rapidly on guitar, fiddle and mandolin, but eventually the mandolin became his obsession and demanded his total focus.


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Instructors

John Reischman

John Reischman and Old Acoustic

The grand master of the mandolin returns with an exciting new quartet - John Reischman and Old Acoustic - to celebrate the music of his latest solo album ‘New Time and Old Acoustic,’ nominated for both a Juno Award and Canadian Folk Music Award. From his days in the early ’80s with the original Tony Rice Unit, John has dazzled audiences across the globe with dozens of mesmerizing original compositions played with great power, taste and gorgeous tone on his rare and mighty 1924 “Lloyd Loar” Gibson mandolin. In addition to touring more than 20 years with his ongoing bluegrass band The Jaybirds, John has collected a Grammy award and three Juno nominations for his outstanding recording output, including seven Jaybird albums, four solo instrumental albums, and many other projects and sessions with John Miller, Todd Phillips and other top players.

Songwriting

Instructors

Celia Woodsmith

Della Mae

Celia Woodsmith is a GRAMMY Nominated performer, vocalist, percussionist, and songwriter. With a style that can be described as “one of a kind: gritty, muscular, folksy and intimate sometimes all at once” (Bluegrass Situation) she has been a fixture of the New England Roots Music scene since 2005.

For the last 12 years, Woodsmith has performed predominantly with the Americana string band, Della Mae. In 2014 Della Mae was nominated for a Best Bluegrass Album GRAMMY for their record “This World Oft Can Be”. Their 2020 album “Headlight” has been described as “…powerful writing, soaring vocals, and moving musical unity — challenge us, energize us, and touch us as they light the way. This is an album on which you can feel the emotions of the group in each song as they evoke anger, sadness, hopelessness, and joy”. (No Depression)

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Vocals

Instructors

Stephen Mougin

Sam Bush Band

Stephen Mougin has been a vocalist and guitar player for the Sam Bush Band since 2006. He owns and operates Dark Shadow Recording, an independent record label and recording studio, where he produces and engineers albums for clients and label artists including Becky Buller, Rick Faris, The Stillhouse Junkies and more.

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Instrument Building

Instructors

Marcus Engstrom

Lead Luthier

Marcus Engstrom developed a love for music and instrument making and repair early. He started working on instruments at 13 and soon was doing small repairs for a Music Store in Falun, Sweden, and built his first guitar in shop class when he was 15.

Initially, Marcus trained as a Machinist for 3 years. Then, after graduation, he went to Norway to a 4 year instrument building school, the Music Instrument Academy. As the final portion of his education at MIA, He went to Markneukirchen, Germany, (Where CF Martin the first trained and emigrated from,) and earned his degree as a Journeyman Stringed Instrument builder/repairman.

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Instructors

Daniel Roberts

Luthier

After studying Fine Arts and English Literature at Montana State University, Dan accepted a position with Flatiron Banjo and Mandolin Company building banjos. By then Gibson had purchased Flatiron and soon they decided to build a new acoustic guitar factory right there in Bozeman, Montana and begin building acoustic guitars again. It didn’t take long for Dan to be offered positions running the shaper room, then the neck line and finally to be Rear Plant manager responsible for everything from resaw to delivering completed white wood guitars to the finish department.

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Instructors

Bobby Wintringham

Luthier

Bobby Wintringham is returning for his sixth 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.”

SanJuanMandolins.com

Instructors

Brody Klemer

Luthier

Brody Klemer lives in Missoula, Montana and works as a carpenter and instrument repair luthier. He has been an apprentice for Michael Hornick of Shanti Guitars since 2012 and has been instructing at Rockygrass Academy since 2015. “Every August I start counting the days to my annual Planet trip the next July! I can’t wait for another amazing festival and another amazing Academy!”

Instructors

Mark Monroe Gibson

Luthier, Songwriter

Songwriter, recording artist and recovering attorney, Mark Monroe Gibson will be joining the mandolin building faculty. This will be Mark’s fifth time building at the Academy.

Instructors

William Classon

Luthier

William Classon is a former geologist and current aspiring luthier, with experience making instruments and instrument parts at a premier CNC machine shop. I was also privileged to complete a full-time, 6-month apprenticeship under Dan Roberts in 2022, where I learned instrument building, repair, design, and much more.”

Kid’s Camp Instructors

Instructors

Leslie Ziegler

Kids Camp Lead Instructor

Leslie Ziegler is a bassist and singer with experience performing and teaching across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. After graduating from Western Michigan University with a degree in Music Education, she focused on becoming an orchestra director in Michigan and worked with string students on traditional repertoire and also sprinkled in alternative styles such as bluegrass and jazz.

After her time in Michigan, she moved across the country in 2009 to direct orchestras for Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, CO. Here, she met talented musicians at various jams in the area and played with Colorado’s most talented acts, began teaching at Bluegrass Camps for kids and became a founding member of The Railsplitters.

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Instructors

Justin Hoffenberg

Jake Leg

Originally from Northern Illinois, Justin Hoffenberg currently makes his home in Boulder, CO. Growing up in a musical household, he attended many concerts as a child and was drawn towards music. At 10 years old Justin joined his 5th grade orchestra, where he played the violin for one year before beginning Suzuki lessons, which he pursued until graduating high school. The summer between 5th and 6th grade proved a fateful one, as a family friend recommended attending the Rockygrass festival in Lyons, CO, as well as the camp that precedes it. Justin ventured to the camp not knowing anything about Bluegrass, but was immensely changed by the experience.

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Instructors

Phoebe Hunt

On the heels of 2021’s acclaimed “Shanti’s Shadow”, Phoebe Hunt released “Nothing Else Matters” in July of 2023 (Thirty Tigers). The album of solo fiddle and voice marks a departure for Hunt, whose previous projects have showcased her skill as a bandleader and collaborator. Yet it is also a joyful return to her foundations.

When the pandemic changed the world, Hunt, like all touring artists, was taken off the road. Feeling for the community of artists she had met over 15 years of touring, she realized that it would be beneficial for professional artists and music dabblers alike to experience community through dedication to the study of music.

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Instructors

Gina Marie Leslie

Colorado-raised songstress Gina Marie Leslie is a longtime RockyGrass Academy student, now living in New Orleans. Born into a family of musicians, she grew up in a culture of jamming that uplifts all players involved and creates a welcoming atmosphere. A multi-instrumentalist (guitar, fiddle, bass, voice, ukulele) and songwriter, Gina has the tools to guide a musician at any level to feel the joy and beauty of connection through music. She plays with Damn Gina, The Bad Bad Leslie’s, Mean Gina Jazz Band, and as a side musician for other projects.

OMGina.com

Instructors

Sam Leslie

Born in Evergreen, Colorado, Sam Leslie is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and sound engineer. After five formative years in Boston, Massachusetts studying at the Berklee College of Music, Sam now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. 

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Instructors

Brad Murphey

“Murph” first fell in love with bluegrass music while living in Chicago and immediately started studying it with the great Czech guitar player Slavek Hanzlik as well as Don Stiernberg and Greg Cahill. After living in Chicago he moved to Colorado and founded the band Slipstream which performed at many notable festivals such as Grey Fox in New York. He then toured the country performing with Nashville singer/songwriter Rorey Carroll and has performed with such bluegrass luminaries as Noam Pikelny, Matt Flinner, the Infamous Stringdusters, Crooked Still, Darol Anger as well as many others and has been an endorsed artist for Elixir Guitar Strings for 14 years. Currently Murph is living in Shanghai, China, performing with mandolin virtuoso Tom Peng and teaching guitar lessons while exploring as much of Asia as possible.

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Guest Instructors

Instructors

Will Scherer

Violinmaker

Will is our resident violinmaker and owner of Scherer Violin Shop in Louisville Colorado. During RockyGrass Academy, Will devotes his time to providing support to academy students and and instructors. Will grew up playing violin and developed his musical passion with fiddle music in its various forms. During college he found himself hanging out at violin shops and eventually decided to pursue violinmaking. In 2013 he entered the violin making world through the mentorship of Thomas Verdot in Columbia Missouri. Will was selected for the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program in 2015, funded by the Missouri Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. He continued his training as an assistant with Verdot and studied with Hans Nebel through the MCLA violin restoration program.

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