Wait, what? A guitar workshop with banjo wiz Andy Thorn? That must be a typo?!?
Although Thorn is best known as the award-winning banjo player for Leftover Salmon, before hitting the road with the powerhouse jam band, he earned his Bachelor’s degree in jazz guitar from UNC-Chapel Hill! Although he has a deep love of the banjo and jazz guitar, he’s always preferred flatpicking. Thorn is thrilled to be getting back to his NC and guitar roots by hosting an all levels flatpicking guitar workshop for PineCone. He will discuss his approaches to flatpicking and how to improve your improvisation.
Since being drafted from the Emmitt-Nershi Band to join Leftover Salmon, Andy Thorn’s powerful, driving banjo picking has helped carry the band to new heights. Despite his young age, the North Carolina native brings a wealth of experience to the banjo seat in Leftover Salmon. Thorn first began playing banjo at age 12 after purchasing one at his neighbor’s yard sale and has not stopped picking since. After high school, Thorn moved on to the University of North Carolina where he earned a degree in Jazz Guitar and played in seminal local band Big Fat Gap, which has a long history of graduating players into bigger bands.
From there he moved to Colorado and joined The Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band, which included Anders Beck from Greensky Bluegrass and Travis Book from The Infamous Stringdusters in its lineup. The band was only around for a brief time, but they won the 2003 RockyGrass Bluegrass Festival Band Contest. That same year Thorn won the RockyGrass banjo contest. Despite the wave of attention that followed, the band soon broke up as they all begin to move on to other bands. Thorn moved back to the East coast and joined flatpicking legend Larry Keel’s band. His time with Keel was brief as he was then recruited to fill the empty banjo spot in the Emmitt-Nershi Band, which led to him to officially joining Leftover Salmon in 2011.
There will be time for Q&A after this workshop. Space is limited – reserve your spot today!
NOTE: This workshop will be recorded and distributed to registered attendees for use as a learning tool. A highlights video will be produced and shared to promote future workshops and events.