Album Notes

The Blue Drifters bring a great deal of variety to their bluegrass music, with swing jazz arrangements, Irish, rock, pop and vintage country songs performed in a bluegrass style. Employing many years of flatpick guitar, 5-string banjo and fiddle playing experience, this Twin Cities, MN quartet re-creates the work of such first-generation bluegrass luminaries as Don Reno, Ralph Stanley, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe. The seasoned quartet also offers pleasing duo, trio and acapella quartet harmony singing.

Phil Nusbaum
Banjo, vocals

A native of New York City, Phil Nusbaum's most recent bluegrass experience has been 10 years performing with Urban Renewal, with his wife Karen, and Ed Munafo. His playing and singing styles are the result of both intense study of the original bluegrass masters, and his own experiments. Specifically, he is an expert in the styles of seminal banjoists Eddie Adcock and Don Reno. He is a flexible player, at home with traditional banjo instrumentals, his own multi-chord, episodic compositions, as well as tunes that you'd never expect to hear on the banjo. Phil earned the Ph.D. in Folklore at Indiana University, and is the author of published articles about bluegrass music. He has presented bluegrass music on radio since 1966. You can hear Phil spin bluegrass on the radio on KBEM-FM, 88.5 FM, every Saturday, 7 AM-12 noon.


Gary Schulte
Fiddle, vocals

Gary Schulte has 25 years of fiddle playing experience for a living, performing with Morris Dance, classical, jazz, new-age and many other groups. A veteran of the Prairie Home Companion, Schulte is a brilliant improvisationalist and expert jazz fiddler. He has lately been associated with Glen Helgesen's group, Axis Mundi.


Steve Howard
Guitar, lead vocals

Steve Howard founded the Blue Drifters in 1990. Guitarist and frequent lead singer Howard has performed a full schedule each year with the group since its inception.


Jeff Brueske
Bass, vocals

Jeff Brueske is bass instructor at Bethel College also has a large roster of private bass students. In addition, he has a Master's Degree in Classical Guitar Performing from the University of Minnesota and also gigs out with the Dean Brewington Jazz Quintet.