Dan Levenson is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 old-time

Old-time music

Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...

 musician and storyteller

Storytelling

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...

. He sings and plays the five-string banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

, fiddle

Fiddle

The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

, and guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, specializing in the music of Appalachia

Appalachia

Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...

.

A long-time member of the Boiled Buzzards string band

String band

A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass.-String bands in old-time music:...

, he has released several recordings and an instructional video for the clawhammer

Clawhammer

Clawhammer is a highly rhythmic banjo playing style and common component of American old-time music. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direction...

 banjo. He has also written two instructional books on clawhammer banjo, and writes for Banjo Newsletter. Levenson was voted one of the United States's top ten clawhammer banjo players by Banjo Newsletter readers.

Levenson has won several competitions and travels the United States performing and leading workshops in playing the banjo.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, he lives with his wife Jennifer in Yuma, Arizona.

Discography

• Salt and Grease (with The Boiled Buzzards)
• A Reason To Dance (with Rick Thum)
• New Frontier (with Kim Murley)
• Fine Dining (with The Boiled Buzzards)
• Eat At Joe's (with The Boiled Buzzards)
• Early Bird Special (with The Boiled Buzzards)
• Light of the Moon (2001)
• Barenaked Banjos
• Traveling Home (2006)

External links

• Official site
• Dan Levenson biography