Pete Wernick

I think it was in the July 2024 issue of bluegrass unlimited.

And, uh, Pete Wernick said that we could use another 20 people like Austin in bluegrass music.

And so that's a good recommendation coming from Pete because you got a lot going on.

You do a lot for bluegrass, especially bluegrass in New England, but bluegrass music in general, involved in the IBMA and do all kinds of things.

So you quit your teaching job in 2021 to sort of go into doing bluegrass music full time?

Yeah.

And I have to say, I mean, other than joining the Rockhearts, another big catalyst was meeting Pete Wernick, who really believed in me as a musician, as a teacher.

And he saw the passion I had for kind of creating community around this music.

He taught himself how to play the banjo.

Um, from actually Pete Wernick's book is a pretty good, you know, he'd learned from a book how to play and he got to be, he took it very seriously.

He got to be very good, very quickly.

And next thing he knows he's playing in a bluegrass band.

My older brother Rex, who's 12 years older than me, was hearing these records, I think, around the house and decided to learn how to play the banjo.

So he picked up Pete Wernick's banjo book, and he taught himself how to play from that.

And then pretty soon, like, you know, within, I don't know, a year or two, he was starting to play in local bands.

And I heard his band play at a little festival, and I said, I want to learn how to play the banjo.

Banjo Steps Out.

And it's Peter Wernick and friends.

And he's got some great friends, believe me.

And they play some good bluegrass music.