AL PETTEWAY
Our Grammy-winning Guitar Week coordinator, Al Petteway, was voted #27 in a list of the top 50 acoustic guitarists of all time by readers of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. During a career as a guitarist that spans the decades from the 1960’s to the present, he has had the opportunity to perform most types of traditional and popular music and has worked with many of the world’s top acoustic musicians both on stage and in the studio. He is featured on dozens of recordings including his own CDs, music books and instructional videos which have won him international acclaim in acoustic guitar circles. His original compositions have been used for programs on National Geographic Television, NPR and PBS, including Ken Burn’s Mark Twain and The National Parks series. He was the recipient of two Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards for Music Composition and has been awarded more than three dozen WAMMIES by the Washington Area Music Association, including the top honors of “Artist of the Year” and “Musician of the Year,” which led to performances at the Vice President’s House and The White House during the Clinton administration. In 2001, he and his wife, Amy White, won an INDIE Award for their duo guitar project, Gratitude, and in 2004, Al won a Grammy for his contributions to Pink Guitar - The Music of Henry Mancini. In 2008, the readers of Acoustic Guitar magazine awarded Al two Player’s Choice Awards, a Bronze in the Fingerstyle Guitarist category and the Silver in the Celtic Guitarist category. He enjoys a life of touring and performing with Amy, but also loves staying home as much as possible with his extended family of dogs and cats at their mountaintop home in nearby Fairview, NC. www.alandamy.com

TONY McMANUS
To find a unique voice on so ubiquitous an instrument as the acoustic guitar is quite an achievement: to do so within a centuries-old idiom where the instrument has no real history is truly remarkable. In little over ten years as a professional musician, Tony McManus has come to be recognised throughout the world as a leading guitarist in Celtic music. In Tony’s hands the complex ornamentation normally associated with fiddles and pipes are accurately transferred to guitar in a way that preserves the integrity and emotional impact of the music. His 2002 recording, Ceol More, was Acoustic Guitar’s “Critic’s Album of the Year” and named “Album of the Year” by the Live Ireland Awards. He is a regular performer at the Chet Atkins Festival in Nashville, and has appeared at guitar festivals in Soave and Pescantina, Italy; Frankston, Australia; Issoudun, France; Kirkmichael, Scotland; Bath and Kent, England; Bochum and Osnabrueck, Germany and five of Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamps in Maryville, TN. Born in Scotland with strong Irish roots, he now lives in Canada and travels the world performing in numerous combinations, including intimate solo performances and various duos with friends Alain Genty, Bruce Molsky, and Alasdair Fraser, to the quartet, Men of Steel, with fellow guitarists Dan Crary, Beppe Gambetta and Don Ross. www.tonymcmanus.com

PAT DONOHUE
Pat Donohue has earned prominent recognition for his mastery of acoustic fingerstyle guitar, which he exhibits weekly as the guitarist for the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band on Garrison Keillor’s radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. Chet Atkins called him “one of the greatest fingerpickers in the world today” and Leo Kottke has called his playing “haunting.” Although he considers himself first and foremost a folk guitarist, Pat manages to blend jazz and blues with folk, and the mix is seamless. Over the years he has captivated audiences with his original compositions, dazzling instrumentals and humorous song parodies, including “Sushi-Yucky” and “Would You Like to Play the Guitar?” His honors include several Minnesota Music Awards, the 1983 National Finger Picking Guitar Championship, and a Grammy for his contribution to Pink Guitar, a compilation of Henry Mancini guitar arrangements that was 2005’s Best Pop Instrumental. His original tunes have been recorded by such artists as Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss and Kenny Rogers, and he has also been a featured performer at many major music festivals including the Newport, Telluride, Philadelphia and Winfield Folk Festivals. Recently he was featured in the Robert Altman/Garrision Keillor film, A Prairie Home Companion. www.patdonohue.com

VICKI GENFAN
Selected as Guitar Player magazine’s ‘Guitar Superstar’ for 2008, Vicki Genfan defies categorization. A unique and fiercely original musical talent, she has been called the ‘Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar’. Drawing from folk, jazz, pop, soul and world music, Vicki has a distinctive style that includes fret-tapping and percussive techniques that is pushing the boundaries of the singer/songwriter genre. Having become an international phenomena, Vicki is lighting up stages in Germany, Hungary, Italy, Canada and the Czech Republic as well as the US playing venues as diverse as the International Montreal Jazz Festival, Germany’s Open String Festival, Italy’s Soave Guitar Festival and Festival Across Styles in the Czech Republic. She has four CDs to her credit and just released her first instructional DVD, 3D Acoustic Guitar. In 2009, Luna Guitars unveiled the Vicki Genfan Signature Model guitar by luthier Gray Burchette and she toured the US and Czech Republic with Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson & Jeff Beck guitarist). Vicki has enjoyed teaching privately and in groups for over 20 years and brings her warmth, humor and inspiration to all who have experienced her many workshops, clinics and classes. And.... she’s thrilled to be back at Swannanoa for the 2010 season! “If I could play like Vicki, I would stay home and entertain myself” – Steve Vai. www.vickigenfan.com

STEVE BAUGHMAN
Steve is a Rounder Records recording artist and a pioneering Celtic and old-time fingerstyle guitarist and banjo player. Steve produced and plays on the landmark Banjo Gathering double CD, which was recently described by Bluegrass Unlimited as “a momentous undertaking and a must addition to any serious collection of old-time music.” He is the author of five guitar books on Mel Bay Publications and recently released a DVD of Celtic fingerstyle guitar solos on Solid Air Records. He appears with Pierre Bensusan and Martin Simpson in the Rounder Records Celtic guitar series, The Blarney Pilgrim. Steve was recently included in digitaldreamdoor.com’s Top 100 Acoustic Guitarists. He tours with Robin Bullock, and their duo album, Celtic Guitar Summit, was a 2003 Editor’s Pick at Acoustic Guitar magazine. Steve lives in San Francisco where he practices law and studies philosophy. This is his ninth year on staff at Guitar Week. www.celticguitar.com

DEL REY
Del Rey started playing classical guitar when she was four. As a teenager, she met bluesman Sam Chatmon who inspired her to become a blues queen. Her guitar playing combines country blues, stride piano, classic jazz and hillbilly boogie through the sensibility of an autodidact trailer-park aesthete. Del plays concerts world wide and also presents a concert/lecture on women musicians called Women in American Music. She collaborates and tours frequently with Austin guitarist Steve James, and she plays ukulele with The Yes Yes Boys. Since 2004, she has been collaborating with Maria Muldaur on tributes to Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Johnny Cash, and she is featured on Ms. Muldaur’s latest CD, Sweet Lovin’ Old Soul. Del also writes about music for various publications, including Acoustic Guitar. She has taught at Port Townsend Country Blues and Heritage Week, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, California Coast Music Camp, International Guitar Seminar, Augusta Blues Week and previously at Swannanoa. She has a DVD on Homespun called Boogie Woogie Guitar. www.hobemianrecords.com

DOUG SMITH
Acoustic guitarist Doug Smith won a Grammy Award for his contributions to Pink Guitar - The Music of Henry Mancini, and in 2006 became the International Fingerstyle Champion at Winfield. With instrumental and compositional chops that Billboard magazine called, “Inviting melodies... stunning fingerpicking,” his playing has been heard on the big screen in the recent film, August Rush, and others including Twister and Moll Flanders, and his original compositions are heard everywhere from Good Morning America to Turner Classic Movies. In performance, Doug’s dynamic stage presence has dazzled audiences around the world with popular originals like “Renewal” and “Order of Magnitude”, and clever arrangements like the “Ave Maria/Can’t Help Falling in Love Medley”. His latest CD, Guitar Hymnal, is a collection of hymns, with an instructional DVD with music and tab. His patient and enthusiastic teaching style makes him a favorite at music camps across the country, including Mark Hanson’s Accent on Music Guitar Seminar and the Colorado Roots Music Camp. www.dougsmithguitar.com

HARVEY REID
Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Harvey Reid has honed his craft for more than 30 years in countless clubs, festivals, streetcorners, cafes, schools and concert halls across the nation. He has been called a “giant of the steel strings” and “one of the true treaures of American acoustic music.” The winner of the 1981 National Fingerpicking Guitar Competition, the 1982 International Autoharp Contest, and the Beanblossom Bluegrass Guitar Contest has absorbed a vast repertoire of American contemporary and roots music and woven it into his own colorful, personal and distinctive style. His 20 recordings on Woodpecker Records showcase his mastery of many instruments and styles of acoustic music, from hip folk to slashing slide guitar blues to bluegrass, old-time, Celtic, ragtime, and even classical. Reid’s skills and versatility on the guitar alone mark him as an important voice in acoustic music. Yet he’s also a veteran musician with a long list of studio and band credits, a versatile and engaging singer, a powerful lyricist, prolific composer, arranger and songwriter, a solid mandolin and bouzouki player, and a seasoned performer and captivating entertainer. And he plays the 6-string banjo and the autoharp like you’ve never heard. www.woodpecker.com

PATRICK LANDEZA
Musician, songwriter, producer, educator and creator of the Hawaiian Music Institute, a traveling music school that features an instructor staff of top Hawaiian musicians, Patrick Landeza is a leading proponent of Hawaiian slack key guitar, or ki ho’alu. Considered by George Winston as “one of the best and most dedicated of the new generation of slack key players,” Patrick is also a driving force in the education of the slack key style world-wide. Born of Hawaiian parents and raised on the ‘island’ of Berkeley, California, as a teenager, Patrick honed his craft from slack key masters Raymond Kane, Sonny Chillingworth, Dennis Kamakahi, and George Kuo. Although a slack key artist for more than a decade, ki ho’alu was more of a passion than a profession for Patrick, a former middle school vice-principal. He now tours the country teaching and performing ki ho’alu and when at home, continues weekly slack key lessons in Berkeley, CA. Patrick has also released a slack key instructional DVD and has published slack key lessons in Acoustic Guitar magazine as well as other publications. He currently runs Addison Street Records which records slack key and other major Hawaiian artists, and has released four CDs of his own. www.patricklandeza.com

AKIRA OTSUKA
Akira Otsuka first toured the U.S. with Bluegrass 45, a legendary bluegrass band from Japan. His outstanding abilities on the mandolin have been acknowledged in both countries, and his music has been featured on CDs, television (America’s Most Wanted), and films such as Chris Rock’s Head of State, the Academy Award-winning Harlen County, USA with Hazel Dickens and Bluegrass, Country Soul & High Lonesome with Bluegrass 45. A highly sought-after accompanist and session player, Akira has shared the stage or recorded with such artists as Emmy Lou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, Bela Fleck, Jethro Burns, Bill Kirchen, Bruce Molsky and Peter Rowan, and has performed venues as diverse as the White House, the Grand Ole Opry and the Smithsonian Institution. Guitar Week Coordinator Al Petteway and Akira co-led a ground-breaking Acoustic/Jazz/Rock group, “Grazz Matazz” during 80’s, and Akira has taught mandolin in the Washington, DC area for many years.

ED DODSON
Ed is the lead guitarist and singer for Wood & Steel, a bluegrass band based in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Bluegrass Unlimited called their 2007 release, Poor Boy, “a masterpiece of hard-driving bluegrass.” Tony Rice calls their music, “Bluegrass, in one of its most pure, unfiltered forms; played by good musicians.” Wood & Steel’s music was featured nationally in Home & Garden Television’s 2002 special, Barns Revisited, and Ed has recorded two albums with mandolin player/builder Skip Kelley, including their 2008 release, Greetings from the Little Green Valley. Ed is an accomplished rhythm and lead player with a deep abiding love of traditional music. www.woodandsteelband.com

ADAM RAFFERTY
Adam Rafferty says the first time he heard the guitar he was “still in my mother’s womb.” By the age of 19, he was playing guitar professionally, from the New York City subways, and street corners to the most upscale music rooms New York has to offer such as Birdland and The Jazz Standard. He’s led his own band through Europe, produced his own albums, and been a first-call, in-demand guitarist with some of the world’s greatest musicians. such as The Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, Dr. Lonnie Smith, L.A. Studio legend Bennie Wallace (who wrote the soundtrack for White Men Can’t Jump), bassist Bob Cranshaw (from the original Saturday Night Live band), Alvin Queen (drummer for Oscar Peterson), and Dizzy Gillespie’s pianist Mike Longo. He’s played at countless music festivals in the US and Europe & Asia, concert halls, and New York City night clubs, taught workshops, written books and recorded instructional DVDs including his latest, featuring fingerstyle versions of Stevie Wonder’s most popular songs. Basslines, horn parts and vocals are replicated on guitar and the groove will make you jump out of your seat. Among Adam’s musical innovations is the ability to play two simultaneous melodies on the guitar, while doing hip-hop style “beatbox” percussion with his mouth at the same time, a feat that simply has to be heard to be believed. After years of playing electric, Adam has returned to solo acoustic guitar: “Playing acoustic guitar feels like coming home to me.” www.adamrafferty.com

ROBIN BULLOCK
Called a “Celtic guitar god” by the Baltimore City Paper, Robin Bullock is a prolific composer, highly respected instructor, and virtuoso performer on 6- and 12-string guitars, mandolin, cittern and piano. A founding member of the INDIE Award-winning acoustic world-music trio, Helicon, Robin’s solo career has earned him three Washington Area Music Association WAMMIE Awards, a Governor’s Award from the Maryland State Arts Council, and a featured broadcast on NPR’s Thistle & Shamrock. His recorded work includes eight critically-acclaimed solo CDs and three collaborative projects including Celtic Guitar Summit with fellow Guitar Week staffer Steve Baughman, which was honored by Acoustic Guitar magazine with an “Editor’s Pick” as one of the top CDs of 2003. In addition to his solo work, Robin also tours regularly as sideman with Grammy-winning folk legend, Tom Paxton, and is featured on Tom’s new live DVD. A native of Washington, DC, Robin now lives in Tripleval, France, and tours and records on both sides of the ocean. This is his fifteenth Gathering. www.robinbullock.com

SALLY VAN METER
Over the last twenty years Sally’s work has included musical collaborations with David Grisman, Jerry Garcia, Taj Mahal, Tony Rice, Chris Hillman, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Laurie Lewis, Russ Barenberg, Kathy Kallick, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Maura O’Connell, the Good Ol’ Persons and Leftover Salmon. As a player and teacher, Sally is noted for her rich tone, expressiveness, and her attention to tasteful backup. Her numerous soundtrack credits include the film, Gather at the River, featuring Peter Rowan & the Nashville Bluegrass Band, and nationally-televised features such as TNN’s Texas Connection, CBS’ Northern Exposure and Unsolved Mysteries, and KIA automobile commercials. She has been featured on NPR’s E-Town, and won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Recording in 1994 for her work on The Great Dobro Sessions. She has been an IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) finalist for Dobro Player of the Year eight times, and in 1996 won IBMA awards for Best Instrumental Recording and Recorded Event of the Year for The Great Dobro Sessions. Her solo album, All in Good Time, produced by Jerry Douglas, was also a finalist for the IBMA Instrumental Album of the Year. She currently tours with Jorma Kaukonen and Blue Country. Sally is also a well-known and popular workshop leader and has taught at Augusta, the South Plains College Bluegrass Camp, the Puget Sound Guitar Workshops and many festival workshops throughout North America and Europe.

STEVE JAMES
Steve James is a well-known name among devotees of contemporary acoustic folk and blues, with numerous critically-acclaimed recordings, a tireless international tour schedule and a sheaf of published work that includes articles, instruction books and videos. A Swannanoa veteran, Steve’s instrumental versatility and engaging personality make him a favorite at music camps and workshop programs nationwide. He’s been interviewed for features in Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Player, Blues Revue and Folk Roots magazines, and his music has been featured on A Prairie Home Companion, The House Of Blues Network and many other syndicated programs worldwide. In the studio, his solo efforts have been enriched by musical contributions from fellow travelers Bob Brozman, Bad Livers, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Cindy Cashdollar, Gary Primich, Ruthie Foster, and his frequent duet partner Del Rey. In turn, Steve has recorded with a diverse crew including Maria Muldaur, James McMurtry, Jesse ‘Babyface’ Thomas and Kevin Russell of the Gourds. He’s shared the stage with such blues/roots luminaries as John Hammond, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy and Howard Armstrong, and his original songs have been covered by artists as varied as new-folk phenom Ana Egge to folk/blues godfather Dave Van Ronk. Steve has also appeared on numerous compilation albums, including a recent Grammy-nominated tribute to Mississippi Fred McDowell and an homage to Charley Patton to which he contributed both music and liner notes. www.stevejames.com

SCOTT AINSLIE
An instructor who consistently receives rave reviews regardless of what he’s teaching, Scott brings a wealth of musical and historical experience with him into the classroom. He is the author of Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads and video teacher on the instructional DVD, Robert Johnson: Signature Licks. This year, Acoustic Guitar magazine featured Scott’s lesson on Robert Johnson’s music in its November issue. The article, with TAB transcription of Johnson’s “Crossroads Blues,” and sixteen minutes of video instruction is archived at the magazine’s website. With five solo recordings to his credit, Scott’s latest, Thunder’s Mouth, has earned strong reviews here and in Europe. Coming of age during the Civil Rights era and the antiwar protests against the Vietnam War, Scott continues to have a deep reverence for cross-cultural exchange and commitment to social justice. This year, he produced Care For All, a benefit CD for the Healthcare Is A Human Right campaign of the Vermont Workers’ Center that features the work of ten musicians with deep roots in Vermont, including North Carolina’s Si Kahn, Paul Winter Consort veteran cellist Eugene Friesen, Anais Mitchell, and The Devil Makes Three. www.cattailmusic.com

RANDY HUGHES
Over the last 25 years Randy Hughes has earned a reputation throughout western North Carolina as the kind of instrument repairman to whom you could entrust your priceless vintage guitar without a second thought. A superb luthier with a thriving repair business, Randy first came to Guitar Week four years ago to inspect and adjust students’ instruments and share his vast store of maintenance tips. He is also an exceptional guitarist and taught fingerstyle jazz at the Gathering for two years.