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FROM KLEZMER TO JAZZ TO BLUEGRASS

Musical roots in my family run deep. My grandfather, David Weinstein, was a professional Klezmer musician in both Argentina and in the Eastern U.S. My father, while not a full-time musician, put himself through school playing jazz piano. These photos are of my grandfather and father's bands, 1954 and 1950, respectively.

I started playing the violin when I was five years old, after seeing a friend perform at a birthday party.
I studied the Suzuki method, which involves learning by ear,
parental involvement in practicing, and group lessons.

My mother, a violinist herself (see photo of the River Valley Quartet below),
helped me with the challenge of practicing daily. Also, I was lucky enough to live
in the Amherst, MA school district, which funded school music programs from K-12.

At the University of Massachusetts, I experimented with other styles of music such as bluegrass and jazz.
My first band was Few and Far Between and we performed locally at UMass and the Amherst Brewing Company.

My next foray was into the world of classic honky-tonk. I had the pleasure of working with Girl Howdy, a female honky-tonk band in the Pioneer Valley. We performed at such venues as Grey Fox and the Dance Flurry.

GIRL HOWDY (w/ boy howdy Paul)

After college I decided to pursue music in the South and I moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where I'm currently living. Fortunately, I moved in next door to Kari Sickenberger of Polecat Creek and began playing with her and Laurelyn Dossett. I've also had the opportunity to learn from and play with other wonderful musicians in WNC such as Bobby Hicks, Arvil Freeman, Jim Shumate, Wayne Erbson, Riley Baugus, Vollie McKenzie, Will Straughan, Adam Masters, Robert Greer, John Herrmann, Jill Fromewick, John Miller and Garth Schwellenbach.