Wayne Erbsen

Wayne Erbsen has made it his lifelong passion to teach, collect, record, perform, write and publish Southern Appalachian music and folklore. A master of both the clawhammer and bluegrass banjo styles, Wayne also performs and records on fiddle, guitar and mandolin, and has authored twenty-eight books of instruction, lore and history. An instructor for over forty-five years, Wayne has taught literally thousands of people to play stringed instruments.

In addition to Wayne’s deep interest in old-time Appalachian and bluegrass music, he has also researched, recorded and written on numerous other themes of American culture such as The Civil War, Victorian life, log cabin culture, cowboys and pioneers, railroads and gospel music.

For the past twenty-four years Wayne has taught Appalachian music at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina. He is an active instructor at his own teaching facility called The Log Cabin Cooking & Music Center in Asheville, NC. (www.nativegroundmusic.com). As a book publisher, he is the founder and general manager of Native Ground Books & Music (www.nativeground.com).

For radio listeners, Wayne has a popular radio show called “Country Roots,” which just celebrated its 25th anniversary on Asheville North Carolina’s public radio station, WCQS. Wayne’s show is now streaming, so you can listen to it live every Sunday evening from 7:00 - 9:00 PM EST at http://www.wcqs.org/.