Peter Feldmann

Peter Feldmann has long been a musical mainstay in Santa Barbara and Southern California. Besides actively performing bluegrass and old time music with a variety of groups, Peter is also known as a bluegrass historian, collector, music consultant, teacher, and producer, both of live concerts and radio/tv programs throughout the area. Peter founded Santa Barbara's Old Time Fiddler's Convention (1972), UCSB's Old Time Music Front (1964), and The Bluebird Cafe (1971). Through these and other outlets, he was the first to bring many prominent folk, blues, and bluegrass artists, including Bill Monroe, Mance Lipscomb, The Stanley Brothers, The New Lost City Ramblers, Fred McDowell, Furry Lewis, Rose Maddox, the Balfa Brothers, and many others to the Santa Barbara area. Peter also helped others access the music by teaching privately, and in group classes for Santa Barbara Continuing Education, UCSB Extension, and McCabes Guitars. He was the first on the West Coast to produce and market instruction Lps - three on How To Play Country Fiddle, and one each on Clawhammer Banjo, and Maybelle Carter Style Guitar. He still presents lectures on country music history at UCSB, Santa Barbara area libraries, and for various interest groups, festival workshops, etc. In 2006, he presented his monograph titled "The Big bang Of Bluegrass Music" (describing the origins of bluegrass 1938 - 1946) to the worlds first International Music Symposium at the University of Kentucky at Bowling Green. He has also been very active in radio, television, and film work, producing weekly shows on country and bluegrass music over a 21 year period on various commercial and public stations. Peter currently maintains three music-related websites, a music blog, and an entertainment service company, "BlueGrass West!", based in the Santa Ynez Valley in Southern California. Peter performs tunes and songs from the heart of America's musical treasure chest. His shows can include fiddle, guitar, banjo, and mandolin. Well-known as a historian and teacher, Peter is first and foremost an entertainer, sharing his respect, energy and love for the music with his fellow musicians, friends, and audiences. Peter studied at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music in 1960-61 with Frank Hamilton, Flemming Brown, Dawn Greening, and Win Stracke, taking time out to produce a weekly bluegrass and old-time radio show for WNUR at Northwestern University. Returning to Santa Barbara in 1962, Peter performed old-time music with "Big Jim" Griffith while studying biology at UCSB. During the early 60's, there existed many on-campus political groups, often called "front organizations", espousing particular points of view. Peter founded "The Old Time Music Front", with the idea of subverting students' minds away from rock 'n roll with the sounds of old time, country blues, and bluegrass music. Settling in the Bohemian Santa Barbara community known as "Mountain Drive", Peter organized an old-time and early bluegrass string band The Scragg Family, which traveled and performed for the next ten years throughout California, Nevada, and the West, playing clubs, college campuses, folk festivals and casinos. During this 15 year period, Peter produced weekly radio music shows, including rarely-heard live music, for over a dozen stations in Southern California. Other projects included film and television music scoring a position as Technical Advisor on a 1978 nation-wide made-for-TV documentary on bluegrass music, That's Bluegrass. While traveling, Peter continued his extensive collection of field recordings and photographs of musicians he encountered. His photographs and recordings have appeared on releases by Arhoolie, County, Rounder, and Smithsonian / Folkways records, as well as on his own labels. In 1970, Peter helped move the Topanga Banjo/Fiddle Contest from Los Angeles county, where it had been banned, to the UCSB campus. Two years later, officials at UCSB asked him to create their own event. Thus the Santa Barbara Old Time Fiddlers' Convention was born. This event, held annually the second Sunday of October, has drawn up to 5,000 spectators and participants, and is considered by many the finest old time music event on the West Coast. It is now in its 36th consecutive year of operation. During the Fall of 1971 Peter founded The Bluebird Cafe in Santa Barbara, a music club that is still legendary in its wealth of musical variety and as a "school" for young musicians and bands. Shortly thereafter he also began a record company Sonyatone Records and Hen Cackle Records which issued a series of old time and bluegrass releases, as well as instruction records for fiddle, banjo, and guitar. Through these recordings, several thousand people have learned to play fiddle, banjo, and guitar. Over the years, Peter founded and performed with a series of prize-winning bluegrass, old time, and country bands. Peter has performed on stage with Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, The Balfa Brothers, Mike Seeger, Byron Berline, Rose Maddox, and many, others. He's now busy perfecting his concept of combining elements from bluegrass, old time, Cajun, jazz, and early blues styles into what he calls Neo-Classic Country Music.