Great Guitar Camp Instructors - Jan 19-21, 2024
Whether you’re ready to learn some new chords, get your fingers strolling up and down the guitar neck, or just want to jam out on some favorite tunes, there’s an instructor who can make it happen!
Danny Gotham’s musical roots spread deep and broad, a master flatpicking and fingerpicking instrumentalist, cutting his musical teeth playing in various rock, jazz, blues, bluegrass and country bands. In 1980, Gotham took Second Place in the prestigious National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship in Winfield, KS. His musical collaborations include accompanist to the great folksinger Tom Paxton and original "Prairie Home Companion" music director, Peter Ostroushko. As a teacher, he has maintained an extensive private student roster, and, since 1974, conducted numerous workshops in the US and Canada. Gotham, along with Jane Peppler and Bob Vasile, founded Picknbow in 2011.
Danny teaches flat-pick, fingerstyle guitar technique, repertoire, and arranging.
Ruth Wyand Being diversified is Ruth Wyand’s specialty. Demonstrating guitar virtuosity with powerful fingerpicking, bottleneck slide and a warm alto voice Ruth plays a mix of Americana, jazz, blues, folk, country with a portion of Piedmont picking and bluegrass clawhammer thrown in. Her songwriting is universal, using a melting pot of styles with lyrics that are timeless, relatable, emotionally resonant, sometimes witty, sometimes serious but always human and genuine.
Jon Shain is a veteran singer-songwriter who’s been turning heads for years with his words, his fiery acoustic guitar work, and his evolved musical style – combining improvised piedmont blues with bluegrass, swing, and ragtime. He is the 2019 winner of the International Blues Challenge in the solo/duo category. Shain’s most recent solo disc, ‘Gettin’ Handy with the Blues: A Tribute to the Legacy of WC Handy’, was released in 2018 and with in a year, also as a guitar tab book published by Mel Bay. This was quickly followed by a second Mel Bay book on finger-style guitar using Jon’s original songs to teach this technique. Shain’s latest releases recorded along with long-time collaborator FJ Ventre are the gorgeous roots album, Tomorrow Will Be Yesterday Soon (2019) and Never Found Way to Tame the Blues (2021). He’s in the studio right now working on his next album of original songs. Jon is the Teaching Workshop Coordinator at Picknbow.
Jon teaches all aspects of guitar technique, slide, songwriting, and blues.
Based in Chapel Hill, NC, FJ Ventre plays some of the most brilliant, kick-ass upright and electric bass you’ll ever see and sings honky-tonk and country-swing as if he’s borrowed Bob Will’s hat and string tie. He currently performs with numerous acts from The Triangle area, including Jon Shain, Wyatt Easterling, Wes Collins, the bennys, Nantahala and others. He has also played with the Chris Stamey Group, the Swang Brothers, Rebecca and The Hi-Tones, Mel Melton and the Wicked Mojos, The Stars Explode, and Tom Maxwell.
He is also a highly-sought after teacher of upright acoustic and electric bass, one of the most popular music teachers in the area
Many local musicians have benefited from his expertise as a recording engineer. His studio, Good Luck Studio, has recorded and mixed projects for Jon Shain, The Swang Brothers, Jeff Hart, Hailey Clark, The Infidels, Tad Walters, Tom Maxwell, and many others including Picknbow campers Nick Hutson, Taylor, Leah Kaufman, Penne Sandbeck, Suzanne Schmid, Lynn Swisher Spears, and Alex Hardy.
FJ teaches sound system use, home recording, and all levels of bass.