Roger Howell

Roger Howell was born in Mars Hill, NC in 1949, and at the age of six moved with his family to Banjo Branch on Bailey Mountain. He learned to play banjo from his aunt Pearl Ball when he was 13 years old. Aunt Pearl lived just across the holler, and, as a young boy, Roger could hear her in the evenings when she would sit on her front porch and play. With neighbors all around who played and a grandma who played guitar and piano and who had the first record player in town, all the elements were there for Roger to become a preserver of old time mountain music. That he did.

Roger is not only an excellent banjo picker but also an accomplished instrumentalist. He plays guitar, dobro and fiddle and has played on several Ivy Creek albums, as well as many others. Roger has played and collected old time music since the early 1960s and recently played fiddle for Iris Dement on the song "Pretty Saro" in the 1999 movie Songcatcher.

You can find Roger either on stage or playing at jam sessions at most old time music festivals around North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia or South Carolina. He has won first place fiddler or banjo picker in most of these states. Roger is working on a fiddle album. Stay tuned.

Media by Roger Howell:

Blue Ridge Mountain Music "Old Time Banjo"

Blue Ridge Mountain Music

Hills & Heroes