Barenberg, Russ (8th October 1950-Present)

He is a bluegrass acoustic guitarist, mandolinist, composer and teacher who has his own style of flatpacking, raised in Chester County, Pennsylvaia who started playing the guitar and taking lessons when he was thirteen years old. He studied at Cornell University in 1970,where he met the banjo player Pete Wernick and they went on to co-found the bluegrass band Country Cooking with Kenny Kosek, John Miller and Tony Trischka, which released two albums.

Country Cooking disbanded in 1975 and he joined with the jazz rock group Carried Away where he played the electric guitar. Later that year he decided to quit playing but two years later in 1977 he went to New York City and became a musician with the group Heartlands who would also join him in 1980 for his solo debut album Cowboy Calypso.

He moved to Boston, Massachusetts where he worked as a teacher at Cambridge’s Music Emporium. Around that time he also performed with Laughing Hands and with the band Fiddle Fever, which won a Grammy Award for Jay Ungar’s “Ashokan Farewell” which was featured in the 1990 TV documentary series The Civil War.

After 6 years he went south to Nashville in 1986 and worked as a session musician with artists that include Aly Bain, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Mel Tillis and Randy Travis along with many others.

From 1995 he has been a musician in the house band of the Transatlantic Sessions series of programmes which are broadcast on the BBC.

As a composer he has written “Little Monk”, which was nominated for a “Best Country Instrumental Performance” Grammy Award in 2007.

In the recording studio he has released the solo albums Cowboy Calypso, Behind the Melodies, Moving Pictures, Halloween Rehearsal and When at Last. Other recordings he has performed on include Heritage by Darol Anger, 14 Bluegrass Instrumentals and Barrel of Fun by Country Cooking, Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People by Hazel Dickens, Skip, Hop & Wobble by Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer, Blue Suede Bluegrass by Craig Duncan, Best of Fiddle Fever: Waltz of the Wind by Fiddle Fever, Crossing the Tracks by Bela Fleck, Too Late to Cry by Alison Krauss, The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo by Steve Martin, Troubadour by Hugh Moffatt, American Portraits by the Nashville Mandolin Trio, Elysian Forest by Mark O’Connor, Nashville Mornings New York Nights by Andy Statman, Always & Forever by Randy Travis, Great Big World by Tony Trischka, Dr. Banjo Steps Out by Peter Wernick, the Transatlantic Sessions series of recordings along with numerous compilations and collections.

In the field of musical education he has been a teacher at several workshops and music camps in the United States and Europe and has also held private music lessons. He has published several instructional videos and books including How To Play Bluegrass Guitar and Teach Yourself Bluegrass Guitar.

Sources:

Barenberg, Russ (8th October 1950-Present)

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