Newgrass Underground
Born Taunton, Somerset, England. Johnny Butten started playing banjo (bluegrass) at the tender age of 9. By the time he was 14, he had won every major competition (adult class) in Europe.
At 16, he started playing guitar (acoustic and electric) and later studied fiddle, mandolin, viola, cello, bass (electric and upright) dobro and even ukulele. He began his professional career at 16 yrs old, playing most styles, though he seemed to find a niche for his natural talent in the ever growing field of Americana and modern Country music. His dexterity and inventiveness on all instruments soon earned him an unrivalled reputation, as did his breathtaking speed & clarity – on the banjo in particular.
Johnny has worked with some of the finest musicians in his field, including such great names as Bill Keith, Kenny Baker, Josh Graves, Bob Black and Peter Rowan to name but a few. He has won many international awards for his playing – on all instruments, (many of which were when he lived in the U.S.A) and has experience in all areas of the music industry at international level, from roadie to manager and everything in between. In 1989 he put together the award winning country band ’Hard Cash’ taking the coveted BCMA ‘Band of the year’ award. He is rated as one of the top bluegrass banjo players in the world and one of the best multi – instrumentalists in Europe. In 1998, he was one of three nominees for the European fiddle player of the year award – in Vienna.
During 2007 he was contacted by a local bluegrass festival in England (http://www.cornishbluegrass.co.uk/) asking him to hold a banjo workshop and also be a judge for the picking competitions. During the conversation Johnny was made aware of the Guinness World Records ‘Fastest Banjo Player’ record which had been set January 2007 by Floridian Todd Taylor, who played dueling banjos at a blazing 210 bpm (beats per minute). As a promotional stunt for the Cornish bluegrass festival, Johnny attempted the record in September 2007 and with a ferocious 260 bpm, smashed the previous record, thereby earning him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records 2009 edition! (NB The festival attendance doubled that year!)
In 2008, Johnny moved to the USA and assembled a fine band Newgrass Underground -
He has also been very busy in the studio, recording his album ‘Solo’ on which he played all the instruments and mixed them to sound like an awesome bluegrass band. To be released winter 2010 is his ‘Pick it Right’ series of banjo instructional DVD’s. Using state of the art video graphics. This series will benefit all players from beginner to advanced. There’s even a bonus ‘Banjo assembly and setup’ chapter. Also for release 2010 is ‘Cosmic Country’ a Techno single. Pulsing bass lines, drums, ambient synth and of course banjo. 2010 promises to be another busy year.
