Butch Robins

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Butch Robins (born as Joseph Robins, May 12, 1949) is an American five-string banjo player with his own distinct style of picking. He's an individualist and, according to himself "a seeker of information, knowledge and wisdom".

[edit] Biography

Robins was born in Lebanon, Virginia and began to play the banjo in the 1960s. He became prominent in both Scruggs style and Keith style of playing. His first job as a professional banjo player was when playing together with Kenny Baker on his album: "A Baker's Dozen" in 1970. In the early seventies, he worked with artists such as, "Charlie Moore and the Dixie Partners", banjoist Vic Jordan, dobro player Tut Taylor and "Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper".

In 1977, he was offered a job with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. A place he held for four years. He formed "The Bluegrass Band" in the early 1980s but after a year the group broke up. Robins retired temporarily to pursue his degree in business school. He returned from retirement in 1986. He found himself again playing together with "The Bluegrass Band". Through the 1990s, he continued to play with artists like Kazuhiro Inaba, Wayne Henderson, and Kathy Chiavola.

[edit] References

Tony Trischka, Pete Wernick, Masters of the 5-String Banjo, Oak Publications, (1988).
Butch Robins, What I Know 'Bout What I Know: The Musical Life of an Itinerant Banjo Player, 1st Books Library, (2003).