GRETCHEN PRIEST-MAY
~ fiddle, 5-string fiddle, mandolin, tenor banjo
PLAIDGRASS is largely the brainchild of Gretchen Priest, whose love of Celtic music drove her straight into the arms of Bluegrass. After moving to Nashville in the mid-90's, Gretchen joined a popular Bluegrass band from the area called Crucial Smith, where she met -- and later married -- Tim May, her PLAIDGRASS cohort.
Gretchen was born to a musical family in South Bend, IN. She attended music school at IUSB and IU Bloomington. She played in a variety of classical string quartets, trios, the South Bend Symphony, Elkhart Symphony, and the Midwest Pops Orchestra. During this time she also performed with Lyle Lovett, Pearl Bailey, Manhattan Transfer, and Captain Kangaroo.
After moving to Nashville in 1996, Gretchen played country fiddle for vocalist Joy Lynn White (Columbia Records). She then toured four years and recorded with the Celtic rockband, Ceili Rain (Nashville Music Awards nominee). Playing in a Celtic rock band led her more and more into Irish fiddling. Beginning in 2001, Gretchen toured and recorded Nine Lives with the Bluegrass band, Crucial Smith. She also played on Tim May’s CD Find My Way Back (FGM Records).
In addition to touring and session work, Gretchen has been teaching fiddle in Nashville for 13 years. She was the manager of the Violin Shop School of Fiddling in Bellevue for three years and is ready to open her own music school.
Gretchen recently purchased a 104-year old building in Pegram, TN, the small town she and Tim live in, with the intention of puttng in a school dedicated to the teaching of Traditional Music. The new facility, named Fiddle & Pick, wlll be home to The Musical Heritage Center of Middle Tennessee, and is expected to open in February 2008. Lessons will be available in fiddle, mandolin, clawhammer banjo, and other acoustic instruments as well as Old Time singing and dancing. Gretchen's many students and teachers are looking forward to their new musical home.
TIM MAY
~ guitar, tenor guitar, mandolin, mandola, mandocello, mandobass, resonator guitar, 5-string banjo, tenor banjo
Tim May is one of the most talented men in acoustic music today. The 20 years he's been in Nashville have been good to him, as a sideman, as a songwriter, and as a producer. He's become an expert on multiple instruments -- he's fluent in so many tunings, you wonder how he does it.
Tim is endorsed by Breedlove Guitars and Elixir Strings. He's been featured on the cover of Flatpick Guitar Magazine, and has been mentioned in Bluegrass Now, Bluegrass Unlimited and Country Music Magazine. He received a Grammy Nomination for 2005 Instrumental Performance of the Year as solo artist on Charlie Daniels' cut of I'll Fly Away (Songs From the Long Leaf Pines album). He's also been on the road with Patty Loveless and John Cowan, and was the session leader on the acclaimed Moody Bluegrass album.
Today, Tim tours as a clinician for Breedlove. He's also just finished producing a CD for CMH Records called A Bluegrass Tribute to Neil Young. Visit the CMH site to hear clips of the tunes.
For more information on Tim, visit his website at www.timmaymusic.net.
TOM SAFFELL
~ 8-string banjo
Tom Saffell is an interesting fellow, part inventor, all musician. He's created the 8-string banjo, which gives him the ability to play even the most complex Celtic and Bluegrass melodies note-for-note, three-finger style. He keeps up with Gretchen's fanciest fiddle arrangements with perfect coordination. It's amazing to watch as Tom moves from intense to delicate and back again with ease.
In the words of Pat Flynn, of New Grass Revival fame, "Tom has set out with a good heart and capable hands. His musical mission may eventually bless us all." As Victor Wooten, of Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, put it, "(Tom) is definitely the next banjo innovator."
Tom has appeared at venues ranging from Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion to The Harrietville Traditional Music Festival in Australia. He has performed at Green Acres Music Hall in North Carolina and The Station Inn in Nashville, Tennessee. His work is featured on bluegrass legend Jim Buchanan's latest CD, The System At Work. He's also appeared with Victor Wooten (of Bela Fleck and The Flecktones), Regi Wooten and The Wooten Brothers, and LaMatrice McQueen.
Tom is just wrapping up his first solo CD. Keep your ear to the ground for the release date.
