Pete Wernick

Pete Wernick grew up in New York City and picked up the banjo there before moving west to Colorado. He played in Country Cooking, a progressive string band, before co-founding Hot Rize with Tim O'Brien, Charles Sawtelle and Nick Forster. Onstage with Hot Rize he sometimes ran his banjo through a phase shifter, an unusual sound in bluegrass. The Dr. Banjo nickname comes from his doctorate in sociology from Columbia University.

His instruction book Bluegrass Banjo has taught generations of players, and he later built the Wernick Method, a network of jam camps and classes that teach beginners to play bluegrass in a group by ear. He also served for years as president of the International Bluegrass Music Association, and has led a jazz-leaning band under the name Flexigrass.