Tony Ellis

Bluegrass and old-timey string band traditions are fused into the deeply personal solo banjo and fiddle style of Tony Ellis. A five-time recipient of composition awards from the ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers), Ellis was featured during a national Masters of the Banjo tour, sponsored by the National Folk Council for the Traditional Arts, in 1997. Ellis was taught the two-finger style of playing banjo by his grandmother, an old-time fiddler. Upon hearing a radio broadcast by Flatt & Scruggs in the mid-'50s, Ellis sold his high-school trumpet and bought a ...