Background, professional training and performance history
Chuck Holloway has been performing bluegrass music for 35 years. Self-taught, he started singing and playing guitar with his brother back in the ‘60s at family functions; as a guitar player, he performed with his first bluegrass band in 1974; shortly after that, he picked up the 5-string banjo. Chuck studies and teaches the music of the first generation bluegrass masters: Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Sonny Osborne, Porter Church, J.D. Crowe, and Bill Monroe, to mention a few. Recently he studied with Peter Wernick (Hot Rize) during a week long Advanced Banjo Camp in Boulder, CO. Chuck currently plays and performs throughout the Pacific Northwest with the Green Mountain Bluegrass Band. He has taught both private lessons and classes at The Shedd for 5 years.
Artist statement and teaching philosophy
“I teach in a relaxed style where my approach is to encourage my students to have fun with their instruments as soon as they can. I focus my students on cultivating their skills by training their ear; that’s how the masters of past generations learned. Playing music is an auditory experience, and I foster the ideology that it should be played with passion from the heart. I encourage my students to fully immerse themselves into the bluegrass genre by getting out and playing with other people at jams, gatherings, and bluegrass festivals. I embrace the idea of sharing my love and passion for bluegrass music with everyone that I come in contact with, and I welcome all comers, regardless of age, who have an interest in playing acoustic oriented music.”
What he teaches
Instruments & classes taught
Chuck teaches acoustic, bluegrass music instruments: 5-String banjo, mandolin, and guitar.