Jim Hurst
ACOUSTIC GUITAR / SINGER-SONGWRITER
Jim Hurst’s unique picking style and mastery of bluegrass guitar wows audiences and is revered by both novice guitar players and his musical peers. His eclectic career has made him a remarkable performer, an experienced instructor and a highly sought after session musician. His affability and gregariousness make him one of the most approachable musicians of his caliber.
Garnering numerous nominations, Jim received IBMA’s prestigious “Guitar Player of the Year” awards for 2001 and 2002. This award is voted on by IBMA members including his peers and contemporaries revealing their appreciation of Jim’s abilities.
After recording and touring with several Country and Bluegrass artists, Jim decided in 2010 to embark on a solo career to focus mostly on his own musical expression and art. As a musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and producer, Jim has recorded 7 CDs including: Open Window, Second Son, A Box of Chocolates, Intrepid, Looking Glass, JHT-1, and Atlantic Crossing. Jim’s virtuosity shines as he consistently sways audiences with his deft finger work and smooth vocals.
Jim performs his show full time and teaches at guitar workshops and music camps in North America and Europe. While he occasionally collaborates with other bluegrass greats, his solo and Jim Hurst Trio performance are what keeps audiences mesmerized.
Robert Bowlin
Bowlin started playing ukulele when he was one, and by the time he was five years old he had picked up the guitar.[1]In 1978, Bowlin won second place in the National Guitar Flat Pick Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival, in Winfield, Kansas. The next year, in 1979, he won first place in the festival’s Finger Style Guitar Championship. In the 1980s, Bowlin was a sideman to artists like Maura O’Connell and Kathy Mattea, the latter whom he appeared with on the popular television program, “Austin City Limits“. In 1993, Bowlin was chosen to fill the fiddle spot in Bill Monroe‘s Bluegrass Boys. This job would last until 1996. The band played the Grand Ole Opry, and a few months later, Monroe died.Following Monroe’s passing, Bowlin turned to recording sessions with Tom T. Hall, the Osborne Brothers, Boxcar Willie, and Hank Thompson, among others. In addition, Bowlin has toured with artists such as Ray Price, Bobby Bare, Faron Young, and Ricky Van Shelton.At one point, he was a member of the swing band The Time Jumpers, a band that often plays The Station Inn and currently features Vince Gill.
In 2007, FGM Records, the recording arm of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, released his debut CD, “Six String Soliloquy”, which features sixteen instrumentals played on acoustic guitar with a flatpick.From 2004 through present, Bowlin left the road with the major country and bluegrass stars and chose to perform with singer-songwriter Wil Maring [1]. In this duo formation, he is able to feature his own original songs and guitar instrumentals.In 2008, Bowlin won first place in the Fiddle, Flatpicking Guitar and Mandolin categories at the Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
He is an accomplished instructor, teaching a semester in the bluegrass program at East Tennessee State University, and he has held workshops at music camps and stores across the United States.
Tim May
Camp Bluegrass favorite, Flatpicker Tim May, has been working in the Nashville area for over 20 years as a sideman, session player, band member and performer. Higher profile projects have included touring with Patty loveless and John Cowan, and working as a regular on the Grand Ole Opry with Mike Snider. Tim was the solo guitarist on Charlie Daniels’ recording of I’ll Fly Away, which was nominated for the Best country Instrumental Performance Grammy in 2005, the same year he was session leader on the critically acclaimed Moody Bluegrass album (he later played on Moody Bluegrass II as well). The Nashville Scene selected Tim the Best Instrumentalist category in their 2012 Reader’s Choice Poll. Tim is co-author of the eight volume course ‘Flatpicking Essentials’, The Guitar Player’s Practical Guide to Scales and Arpeggios, The Flatpicker’s Guide to Old Time Music, and The Flatpicker’s Guide to Irish Music. He has taught regularly at Camp Bluegrass, Kaufman Kamp, Colorado Roots Music Camp, Nashcamp, and the Swannanoa Gathering. He and his wife Gretchen are owners of the Musical Heritage Center of Middle Tennessee.
Elliott Rogers
Elliott Rogers As a former student at Camp Bluegrass, Elliott Rogers is very familiar with the concerts and jams that make it a unique and fun experience. Several years ago, Elliott began teaching at the Camp, and his many students can testify to the contagious spirit of fun and learning that Elliott brings to his workshops in rhythm and lead acoustic guitar. Elliott taught himself how to play guitar from an easy Beatles book when he was very young, but when he heard a Doc Watson album borrowed from a friend’s mother, Elliott was profoundly moved. During the mid-70’s he kept listening to a variety of music recorded by Dan Crary, Jim and Jesse, Jackson Browne, Taj Mahal, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their iconic bluegrass album of the 1970’s, Will the Circle Be Unbroken. At age 17, Elliott ventured out to his first bluegrass festival, the 3rd annual Colorado Rocky Mountain festival, where he first saw Bill Monroe, Jim and Jesse, and the Country Gazette with Alan Munde. Elliott couldn’t imagine at that time that he would one day be playing guitar in a band with Alan Munde. After a hitch in the U.S. Army at Ft. Hood, Elliott moved to Austin where recorded with Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, and Nancy Griffith. He shared the stage with John Prine, Buckwheat Zydeco, Blaze Foley, and many others. Elliott continues as a celebrated songwriter and guitarist in the Austin area.