Danny Barnes
Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and genre-bending artists in contemporary roots music, Danny Barnes’ musical interests are varied and adventurous.
Steve Baughman
Steve Baughman is known for his fingerstyle and clawhammer guitar playing, which draws on Celtic, Appalachian, and various ethnic and folk traditions.
Flynn Cohen
Flynn Cohen has performed all over the world with many notable acts in traditional Irish and contemporary acoustic music.
Mike Compton
Mike Compton is a Grammy- and IBMA award-winning artist and a passionate teacher and advocate for the mandolin. Mandolin Magazine calls him "a certified mandolin icon."
Wes Corbett
A banjo player of uncommon grace and facility, Wes Corbett has recorded and performed with numerous musicians, including Joy Kills Sorrow, the Bee Eaters, the David Grisman Quintet, and Molly Tuttle.
Ian Coury
Ian Coury has been accruing professional awards and accolades since the age of 12. Today, he’s one of Brazil’s most-respected virtuosos of the ten-string mandolin.
Stevie Coyle
Fingerstyle guitarist Stevie Coyle co-founded the popular contemporary string band the Waybacks. He has also been an actor, comedian, sword-swallower, and now, a guitar store owner
Bill Evans
Bill Evans is the 2022 recipient of the coveted Steve Martin Banjo Prize, a 2024 inductee in the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame, and an internationally recognized five-string banjo life force. He brings a deep knowledge, intense virtuosity, and contagious passion to all things banjo.
Marla Fibish
One of the prominent voices on the mandolin in Irish music, Marla Fibish brings a musicality and excitement to the tradition that is not often heard on the mandolin. Marla will teach you to play with a traditional Irish feel and authenticity.
Cathy Fink
Grammy Award–winning multi-instrumentalist Cathy Fink’s career includes 50 years of performing, teaching, and recording. She has taught guitar, banjo, ukulele, and harmony singing, at numerous workshops and camps, and she is the 2021 IBMA Mentor of the Year.
Teja Gerken
Guitarist Teja Gerken has been deeply involved with the contemporary fingerstyle guitar scene for more than 20 years. A Peghead Nation co-founder and producer, Teja hosts the cream of the crop of the fingerstyle guitar community in his advanced fingerstyle course.
Sharon Gilchrist
Sharon Gilchrist has performed and/or recorded with Darol Anger, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice Quartet, Uncle Earl, and many other luminaries in the acoustic music scene, on both mandolin and upright bass.
Sharon Gilchrist teaches:
Mark Goldenberg
Mark Goldenberg is a guitarist who has played on records for numerous artists, including Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Eels, Natalie Imbruglia, Chris Isaak, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Peter Frampton, and, yes, William Shatner. He played lead guitar for Jackson Browne from 1994 to 2010.
Grant Gordy
Former David Grisman Quintet guitarist Grant Gordy has become a major voice on the American acoustic music scene and one of the most highly regarded young instrumentalists of his generation.
Zoe Guigueno
Zoe Guigueno is a bassist, singer, and songwriter who has performed with the Grammy-nominated string band Della Mae, the Klezmer/Yiddish group Tsibele, string-pop quartet Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards, and numerous others.
Brittany Haas
Preternaturally adept at old-time, bluegrass, Celtic, and a host of international fiddle styles, Brittany Haas is one of the most influential fiddlers of her generation.
Orville Johnson
Orville Johnson is a Seattle-based singer, instrumentalist, record producer, songwriter, session player, teacher, and, above all, instinctive and sensitive musician. He's also Peghead Nation's blues guitar guru.
Evie Ladin
Evie Ladin’s polyrhythmic clawhammer banjo style, resonant voice, and percussive dance have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Celtic Connections, Lincoln Center to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
Chad Manning
Bluegrass, old-time, and swing fiddler Chad Manning plays with the David Grisman Sextet, the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, and Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands. An avid instructor, having taught hundreds of young fiddlers in the fiddle studio he shares with his wife.
Marcy Marxer
Marcy Marxer is a multi-instrumentalist, studio musician, performer, songwriter, and producer with 30 years of experience and a shelf of impressive awards. She's also a tireless ambassador for her beloved ukulele.
Tony McManus
Tony McManus is recognized throughout the world as one of the leading guitarists in Celtic music, adept at both fingerstyle and flatpicking, as well as a myriad of styles, including classical and baroque music played on the steel-string guitar.
Bruce Molsky
Bruce Molsky is "one of America's premier fiddling talents" (Mother Jones) and a two-time Grammy nominee. The first permanent visiting professor in Berklee College of Music's American Roots Program, Bruce is the go-to guy for the next generation of fiddlers.
Matt Munisteri
Matt Munisteri is a freewheeling and virtuosic guitarist and one of today’s primary exponents of 1920s and ’30s acoustic jazz guitar.
Scott Nygaard
Grammy-winning guitarist Scott Nygaard (and Peghead Nation cofounder) has been one of the most inventive and original flatpicking guitarists in the bluegrass/acoustic music scene for the last 35 years.
Emerald Rae
Fiddler and folksinger Emerald Rae brings the duo of strings and song to a new plateau with mesmerizing dexterity. Roots Music Report hailed her as “a spell-caster of no small skill."
John Reischman
John Reischman is one of the premier mandolinists of his generation, a master instrumentalist capable of swinging between re-inventions of traditional old-time tunes, deconstructions of the bluegrass repertoire, and compelling original tunes.
Lauren Rioux
With over 25 years of experience in music education, Lauren Rioux is known around the world for her teaching expertise, in particular her innovative website JamWithLauren.com. As a performer, she has toured with Darol Anger and the Republic of Strings, Brittany Haas, Scott Nygaard, and more.
Lauren Rioux and Brittany Haas
Lauren Rioux and Brittany Haas teach the Creative Jam Skills course on Peghead Nation. Lauren is most well-known for her online string education site JamwithLauren.com, while Brittany is of the most influential fiddlers of her generation.
Lauren Rioux and Brittany Haas teaches:
Alisa Rose
Grammy-nominated violinist and composer Alisa Rose is a modern musician who easily navigates between many musical styles. With roots in American fiddle traditions as well as classical music, she attracts attention for her expressive lyrical voice on the violin.
Dale Russ
Martin Hayes’ assessment of Dale Russ as “one of the greatest fiddlers I know in Irish traditional music” is shared by all who hear him. Dale has been playing Irish fiddle since his move in 1973 from his native Connecticut to Washington State, where he is now regarded as “the shining jewel of Northwest fiddle players.”
Lissa Schneckenburger
Lissa Schneckenburger’s fiddling and singing, documented on numerous acclaimed solo albums, has been charming the world since she was a youngster, and her class on learning by ear has been a favorite at festivals and music camps.
Lissa Schneckenburger teaches:
Adrianne Serna
Adrianne Serna is a singer/songwriter based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she specializes in teaching beginning guitarists to play and sing the songs they love.
Ethan Setiawan
Ethan Setiawan has a command of the mandolin far beyond his 20-some odd years. He has won both the National Mandolin Championship at Winfield, Kansas and the Rockygrass Mandolin Championship. Called “creative and virtuosic” by WBUR, his path has wended its way through traditional bluegrass, Bach partitas, and free jazz.
Joe K. Walsh
Known for his exemplary tone, technique, and taste, Berklee College of Music mandolin instructor Joe K. Walsh is emerging as one of the best mandolinists of his generation.
Aaron Weinstein
Called “a perfect musician” by jazz guitar legend, Bucky Pizzarelli, mandolinist Aaron Weinstein is one of his instrument’s rare jazz masters.
Mike Witcher
With his gorgeous tone, dead-on intonation, and unrelenting musical creativity, Mike Witcher is one of the best resonator guitar players in the world.
Dede Wyland
Milwaukee-born singer, guitarist, and voice teacher Dede Wyland’s 1980–1987 work with Tony Trischka and Skyline brought her international acclaim and made her a role model for a generation of younger female musicians.
Stash Wyslouch
Stash Wyslouch is a bluegrass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Despite his heavy metal beginnings, bluegrass has been central to Wyslouch's life for the past 15 years playing with groups such as Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters and Tony Trischka’s Early Roman Kings.
Doug Young
Doug Young is a fingerstyle instrumental guitarist based in the San Francisco South Bay area. He is the winner of the 2011 International Acoustic Music Award in the instrumental category.
