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. He is comfortable playing most styles of traditional and popular music, performing solo or as a sideman with some of the biggest names in the music industry. 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 National Parks series. Before relocating to the Asheville area in 2002, he was the recipient of two Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards for Music Composition and has been awarded a total of fifty 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 participation in 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

CRAIG D’ANDREA
Craig D’Andrea is one of the younger faces you will find on the acoustic guitar scene, but he isn’t playing like he’s just 24 years old. Craig was on the initial roster for CandyRat Records, the well-known acoustic guitar label, and his debut album, Crazy is Catching, has been receiving enthusiastic support from fans and critics alike. The buzz surrounding the album’s release, coupled with his title of 2007 Canadian Fingerstyle Champion, has provided him with the opportunity to tour in the United States and Canada with well-respected fellow guitar greats Andy McKee, Don Ross, Antoine Dufour and Peter Ciluzzi. www.craigdandrea.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

STEPHEN BENNETT
Since his 1987 win at the National Flatpicking Championships in Winfield, Kansas, Stephen Bennett has become known as a versatile and original guitarist who consistently garners praise from critics and audiences alike. With his stellar musicianship, a relaxed stage presence and quick wit, Stephen has performed throughout the United States, Canada, France, England, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Holland, Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, and Japan. With more than a dozen self-produced CDs to his credit at this writing, a new Stephen Bennett recording is probably in the works. In addition to his flatpicking reputation and brilliant slide guitar work on his 1930 National resophonic steel guitar, Stephen is also one of the world’s premiere performers on the harp guitar, an instrument he inherited from his great-grandfather. As a composer and arranger, he has created an enduring repertoire and a significant body of recorded work for this instrument, and in 2003, he organized and hosted the world’s first harp guitar convention – the Harp Guitar Gathering – in Williamsburg, VA. In what is becoming known as the Golden Age of Guitar Lutherie (guitar-making), it’s easy to overlook the fact that this is also the Golden Age of Guitar Playing. With six strings or more, as one of the most original and prolific composers and arrangers for the guitar on the current scene, Stephen Bennett is clearly a part of the latter heritage. www.harpguitar.com

MIKE DOWLING
When master fiddler, Vassar Clements, heard Mike Dowling play guitar back in 1975, he did the sensible thing. He hired him. Thirty years later Clements called him, “One of the finest guitar players there is, anywhere.” Before embarking on a solo performance career, Mike also worked and recorded with music legends Jethro Burns and jazz violin great Joe Venuti, and contemporary fiddle masters Buddy Spicher, Paul Anastasio, and Randy Sabien. Mike has released seven albums of roots-based music, and three swing guitar instruction DVDs for Homespun Tapes. He’s a popular swing guitar instructor at music camps and workshops throughout the world, including two previous years at the Swannanoa Gathering’s Guitar Week and last year at Fiddle Week. Mike has been a frequent guest on NPR’s, A Prairie Home Companion, and his original songs have been recorded by such artists as the Del McCoury Band, Emmy Lou Harris, Kathy Mattea, Tim O’Brien and the Nashville Bluegrass Band. He recently won a Grammy for his contribution to the Hanry Mancini tribute compilation, Pink Guitar.
www.mikedowling.com

PAUL ASBELL
Paul began playing at age 12, on an acoustic guitar that his dad had “broken in” performing pro-labor and “peoples’ songs” with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Leadbelly. In the 45 years that followed, he has developed a dizzingly diverse stylistic bent from these folk roots. David Bromberg calls him, “one of the best-kept secrets in American music today.” Paul has played, recorded, and toured with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Mama Thornton, David Bromberg, Mary McCaslin, Rosalie Sorrells, Bobby McFerrin, Sonny Stitt, Betty Carter, Sun Ra Arkestra, and former guitar student Trey Anastasio of Phish. A ‘guitarist’s guitarist,’ Paul’s solo acoustic CDs have received rave reviews in Guitar Player, Acoustic Guitar, Vintage Guitar, Sing Out, Dirty Linen, and Downbeat, and he has taught at Dartmouth, Middlebury College, Skidmore, and the University of Vermont, as well as workshops at the Healdsburg and Newport Guitar Festivals. www.paulasbell.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 E’s True Hollywood Story to The Martha Stewart Show. His association with Mannheim Steamroller includes a book of guitar arrangements of Chip Davis’ Christmas tunes, and he also has his own performance/instructional DVD and book published by Alfred Publishing. In performance, Doug’s dynamic stage presence, on display in such popular tunes such as “Renewal,” “Order of Magnitude,” and John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” have dazzled audiences across the country. His patient and enthusiastic teaching style makes him a favorite at music camps across the country, including Mark Hanson’s Accent On Music Seminar and the American River Acoustic Music Camp. www.dougsmithguitar.com

ORRIN STAR
Orrin Star is an award-winning guitarist and mandolin player who combines hot picking, cool singing and good humor. Once described as ‘Arlo Guthrie-meets-Doc Watson’, he was the 1976 National Flatpicking Champion, has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, and boasts a repertoire that ranges from from bluegrass standards to little-known folk gems, Celtic fiddle tunes to fingerstyle blues. He has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, recorded three albums for Flying Fish Records, and also worked for five years as a stand-up comic in New England. He is the author Hot Licks for Bluegrass Guitar, and has produced two popular flatpicking instructional DVDs. Orrin performs solo, in a duo with mandolin icon, Jimmy Gaudreau, and with his group, Orrin Star & the Sultans of String. www.orrinstar.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

CRAIG FULLER
Craig Fuller is a founding member of the pioneering country rock band, Pure Prairie League. While with PPL, he wrote and sang the band’s most noteworthy song, “Amie,” and was the major songwriter on the band’s first two highly-acclaimed albums. From 1996 to 1997 he recorded two records for United Artists with the band, American Flyer, the first of which was produced by famed Beatles producer, Sir George Martin. In 1978, he recorded the album, Fuller Kaz with Eric Kaz. As a member of Little Feat, he co-wrote most of the songs on Let It Roll, the band’s Grammy-nominated 1989 release, and also wrote or co-wrote a number of songs on the band’s Representing The Mambo, and Shake Me Up. From 1999-2001 Fuller lived in Nashville, and wrote for Sony/Big Yellow Dog publishing. A father of four, he currently divides his time between Pinehurst, North Carolina and Nashville while performing 25-30 shows a year, mostly with Pure Prairie League but also as a solo act and a guest with Little Feat. www.pureprairieleague.com

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 calls Wood & Steel “a hard-driving bluegrass band….an important spokesperson for bluegrass in the state of North Carolina.” In his liner notes to the 2005 Wood & Steel release, The Old Ones Are the Best Ones, Doyle Lawson wrote, “Wood & Steel have put together a wonderful collection of bluegrass music you’re sure to enjoy.” and 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’s 2001 duo release, Feast Here Tonight, with mandolin player Skip Kelley, was the featured CD in the Sept./Oct. 2001 issue of Flatpicking Guitar magazine. 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, concert halls, and New York City night clubs, taught workshops, written books and recorded instructional DVDs. Now, after years of playing electric guitar in bands he has re-discovered solo acoustic guitar: “When I was a kid my Dad played his old Martin guitar for me - and it was magic. In fact, that’s the original magic that turned me on to music. I remember the smell of the wood, the crispy sound of the steel strings, and my connection with my Dad. Playing acoustic guitar feels like coming home to me.” His new CD, Gratitude, consists of original compositions and cover songs by Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Bill Withers, and Lonnie Smith. 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 seven critically-acclaimed solo CDs and four 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. His new CD, Rosewood Castle, continues his exploration of Celtic music for solo and duo guitar, featuring duets with guitar greats Alex de Grassi, Tony McManus, John Doyle, Steve Baughman and Al Petteway. A native of Washington, DC, Robin now lives in Tripleval, France, and tours and records on both sides of the ocean. This is his fourteenth 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. www.sallyvanmeter.com

MARY FLOWER
Mary Flower has been an internationally-known and respected touring artist and teacher for over three decades. She is an award-winning fingerstyle blues and ragtime guitarist, and, with the release of her new CD, Bridges, she now has eight solo CDs and five instructional videos to her credit. Finishing twice in the top three of the National Fingerpicking Championships, she was chosen Colorado’s “Best Folkie” three times and was a recipient of a songwriting fellowship from the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities. Mary is a 2008 nominee for the Blues Music Awards. She has performed on A Prairie Home Companion, at Merlefest and with the Ottawa Blues in the Schools program and has taught several years at the Gathering, at Fur Peace Ranch, International Guitar Seminars, the Swallow Hill Music School, Augusta Heritage Workshops, and the Port Townsend Country Blues Festival and Workshops. Also a master of the lap slide guitar, Flower continues to carry on the tradition of roots and original music. www.maryflower.com

SCOTT AINSLIE
Drawing on the musical legacies of Delta Blues legends Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, the East Coast’s Blind Blake, and Durham, NC’s own Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller, Scott Ainslie is a noted performer and scholar with more than two decades of experience teaching elements of African and African-American music to students of all ages, both in the classroom and from the stage. For this work, Scott has received numerous awards including St. Andrew’s Presbyterian College 20th Annual Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award, appointment as a Public Fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill, and grant awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Folklife Section of North Carolina Arts Council. Scott transcribed the complete recorded works of Mississippi Blues legend Robert Johnson, published as Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads (Hal Leonard, 1992), and has an instructional DVD on Johnson’s guitar techniques entitled, Robert Johnson: Signature Licks (Hal Leonard, 1997). Scott has presented programs for the NC Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and been a featured artist at Merlefest, The Kennedy Center, The Old Songs Festival, Louisiana Crossroads, and at the Toronto, Mississippi Valley, and Bull Durham Blues Festivals. He will release his fifth solo recording in early 2008. Coming of age during the Civil Rights era, Scott continues to have a deep reverence and affection for cross-racial exchange, honoring the African and American roots of the tradition while presenting an engaging tour of both the music and the history of the Blues. 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.