Nancy Sluys

Wooooo Hooooooo! First place Clawhammer Banjo player at the 2008 Mount Airy Fiddler's Convention!!!



Nancy Sluys has been playing traditional music since 1973 when she acquired a mandolin and started attending bluegrass festivals. In 1974 she happened upon the Galax Fiddlers Convention in Virginia and discovered the haunting sounds of old time music. Taking up the clawhammer banjo she quickly mastered it and returned year after year to Galax eventually winning first place in 1995,2002 and 2004. She has also won prizes at most of the major fiddlers conventions in the south including 2nd & 5th at Clifftop and 1st at Elk Creek & Mount Airy.

While living in Florida she met her husband to be, Bill Sluys and started the Horsehair and Catgut String band. The only old time band in South Florida, at the time, Horsehair & Catgut played from 1979 to 1983. Nancy alternated on banjo and fiddle in the band while Bill brought up the bottom end on the washtub bass.

In 1983 Nancy & Bill were married and soon moved to Greenville North Carolina where they joined the Too Wet to Plow String Band with fiddler Earl White and guitarist, Charlie Pickford. They played many concerts and dances in Eastern North Carolina and were the house band for the Green Grass Cloggers home team.

In 1985 Bill and Nancy moved to the musically rich area of Mount Airy, NC and soon after formed the Pilot Mountain Bobcats with Nancy playing fiddle, Jacki Spector on banjo, Allin Cottrill on guitar and Bill playing an aluminum upright bass. The Bobcats have become well known in the area for their hard driving traditional style and danceable rhythm. The Bobcats have become standards at all the fiddlers conventions taking the top five honors at Galax and Clifftop among others. Festivals and music camps where the Bobcats have played include Augusta Dance Week and Old Time Week, Merlefest, Feet Retreat, the Eno Festival, Autumn Leaves Festival, Foot Mad, the Hometown Opry, the L.E.A.F Festival, Blue Ridge Music Center, Galax Leaf and Strings Festival.

From 2000-2003, in addition to the Bobcats, Nancy and Bill were members of the progressive old time band, Man Alive! with Joe Thrift and David Long. Nancy took up the banjo duties with Bill on the bass.

Nancy & Bill continue to play with the Pilot Mountain Bobcats. Bill has recently opened Minglewood Recording Studio and has just completed a new Bobcat recording as well as doing recording for other bands. Nancy recently completed a project in the studio called Best of Friends Volume One featuring a combination of musicians accompanying her clawhammer banjo playing.



Check me out at http://www.bobvillemusic.com



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