Jeff Scroggins

Music has always played a central role in Jeff Scroggins' life. He grew up in rural Oklahoma listening to his grandfather, J.M. Cary perform old time country music, and hearing the fiddling of his great uncle, fiddle legend Ace Sewell. At the age of twelve Jeff's grandfather gave him his first guitar and taught him to play. As a teenager Jeff fell in love with rock and roll, especially the guitar playing of Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix and played in a series of garage bands.At nineteen Jeff bought a banjo at a garage sale for $60. Soon he was obsessed with the banjo, and sold his Les Paul to buy a better one.

In September, 1983, Jeff attended the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas At this life changing event he heard for the first time the music of The Newgrass Revival, The David Grisman Quintet, The Tony Rice Unit, Hot Rize, Tony Trischka & Skyline, Berline Crary, & Hickman, & Mark O'Connor. It was also there that Jeff met James McKinney, the cult-like banjo master, whom Jeff cites as the banjo player who influenced him most profoundly. Oklahoma banjo legend Alan Munde was another huge influence.

Throughout the mid to late 1980s Jeff Scroggins entered and won numerous banjo contests, the culmination of which was winning the prestigious National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas in September, 1989.

A year or so later Jeff became a founding member of the Andy Owens Project, and played banjo on Andy's first CD, "Kerosene Circuit", which was produced by Grammy winner Bil VornDick, and also featured Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Mark Schatz, David Grier, Stuart Duncan, Alan O'Bryant, Terry Eldridge, & Margaret Bailey. The Andy Owens Project recorded two more critically acclaimed CDs, "Real Music" (1993) and "One Eye Open" (1996). The band performed throughout the United States, and toured Russia in 1994 and Japan (with three-time National Flat-pick Guitar Champion Steve Kaufman on guitar) in 1996.

In 1997 Jeff left Texas and the Andy Owens Project and moved to the Rocky Mountain West, eventually settling in Corrales, New Mexico, with the intention of taking a sabbatical from music so that he could spend more time with his young and growing family. Even though Jeff was not serioulsy performing during this period, he was making new musical friends and contacts that would prove valuable in the future.

Eventually the desire to perform became too strong to ignore, and in late 1999 Jeff and his family returned to the great plains with the intention of starting a new band with his two long-time Texas friends Robin Macy and Troy Gilchrist, both of whom had relocated to southern Kansas. There, along with Kenny White (formerly of New Tradition) on guitar and Darren Wilcox (formerly of Special Concensus) they formed "Big Twang". They recorded a CD titled "Pastures of Plenty", and for the next three years they played extensively in the Central and Western US. Big Twang broke up in early 2003, and Jeff and his family decided to return to their beloved Rocky Mountains and settled once again in New Mexico, where they currently live.

Jeff Scroggins has performed with many of the top names in bluegrass music, including David Peterson, Beppe Gambetta, Steve Kaufman, Tim O'Brien, Peter Rowan, Andy Owens, and early incarnations of the Dixie Chicks.

Jeff has done extensive studio work in Dallas, Austin and Nashville, including numerous radio and TV commercials, music for movies, and projects with recording artists that include Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Mark Schatz, David Grier, Jerry Douglas, Sara Hickman, Patty Mitchell-Lege, David Peterson, Randy Howard, Steve Kaufman, and even rock and roll legend Steve "Guitar" Miller.

In 1996 Jeff Scroggins was inducted into the Texas Tornadoes, an unofficial Texas music Hall of Fame, whose membership includes many Texas music legends, including Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Winter, and (ZZ Top guitarist) Billy Gibbons. He recently returned to the 2006 National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas, where he placed 2nd.

Jeff plays with numerous bands in the Southwestern US, among them are the Colorado based "Blue Canyon Boys" and the Albuquerque, New Mexico based "Mystic Lizard".

Jeff's latest and most ambitious musical undertaking to date is undoubtedly his own newy formed band, "Jeff Scroggins & Fresh Horses". The band is built around Jeff's unique banjo style and the powerful singing and rhythm guitar playing of Mark Bennett, whom Jeff has known for more than 20 years. The band concept is to be a distinctly New Mexico bluegrass band, drawing material from southwestern singer/songwiters and backing it with great progressive bluegrass music to create a sound that is "completely bluegrass and uniquely New Mexican". The rest of the band members may vary depending on venue and location, but the upcoming CD will feature Kelly Lancaster on guitar and mandolin, Sharon Gilchrist on bass and vocals, and Reggie Rueffer on fiddle and vocals, and Ruth Bennett singing harmony vocals. Be sure to check out the "Jeff Scroggins & Fresh Horses" myspace site for information about the band and news on the CD!!



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