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Pete Wernick

Season 2 Episode 16

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Pete Wernick, fondly known as Dr. Banjo, co-founded Hot Rize in 1987 with Tim O'Brien, Mike Scap, (soon replaced by Nick Forster) and Charles Sawtelle. Originally from NYC, he had a PhD in sociology, taught at Cornell, hosted a bluegrass radio show, and played in the progressive bluegrass band Country Cooking, with Russ Barenberg, Kenny Kosek, Tony Trischka and Andy Statman before moving to Colorado with his wife Joan.

Pete has written numerous highly regarded books on bluegrass banjo and bluegrass jamming, and founded the Wernick Method  of bluegrass instruction, which has been used by hundreds of teachers worldwide to teach tens of thousands of students how to play bluegrass. A longtime Colorado resident, Pete is a fascinating guy with lots of great stories!