If you like Banjo - you should hear this friend of mine - Tim Custer. Met him when I lived in Florida and he was with the "South Ocean String Band".
Tim Custer
Tim has been playing music since age 13 but it has been a part of his life since birth. "Ever since I can remember there was music surrounding our lives. My Dad played music and he always made sure that we were able to enjoy it. I remember as a kid growing up we would spend almost every weekend doing something that involved music. My first memories of enjoying that music was when Dad played at a place called the 'Wagon Shed' in Claysburg, PA. I would watch the people on stage and pretend I was playing too"!
Tim and his wife Brenda moved to Florida in 1987 and it was at this time that the bluegrass bug bit hard. Tim joined 'The South Ocean String Band' and spent the next eleven years as the banjoist. "We played all the major festivals in Florida and Georgia. We recorded two CD's and did various radio and TV appearances. It was a great time musically because we met and played with so many great artists. We opened for Allison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs, as well as, 'The Seldom Scene' and others. We became the 'house band' for the late Mr. Chubby Wise and backed him at several of his Florida performances".
After Tim's Dad passed away, Tim and Brenda moved back home and he became actively involved in bluegrass again with the group 'pickin@bluegrass'. Tim is currently playing with 'Mountain Therapy' a great bluegrass band from the Ohio/Western Pennsylvania area.
Tim is a two time Mid-Atlantic Banjo Champion, winning those championships 2001 & 2002. He has won the Maryland State Banjo Championship four times in years 2001, 2000, 1979 and 1977. He also held the Tri-State Banjo Champion titles in 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983 and 1985. He has performed on WWVA's Jamboree USA in Wheeling WV, and at The Opryland Hotel, The Station Inn and The Grand Ole Opry building all in Nashville TN. He has recorded several CD's and a sound track for a nationally televised Target Store commercial and has played most of the major bluegrass festivals from PA to FL.
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