Dan Crary
Dan Crary (born September 29, 1939) is an American bluegrass guitarist, flatpicking innovator, and academic who pioneered the role of the acoustic flat-top guitar as a primary lead instrument in bluegrass music. A native of Kansas City, Kansas, he co-founded the progressive ensemble The Bluegrass Alliance in 1968 and released the landmark instrumental record Bluegrass Guitar in 1970. He recorded several acclaimed solo albums for Sugar Hill Records, spent two decades touring in a trio with Byron Berline and John Hickman, and fronted the band California, which won three consecutive International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Instrumental Group of the Year awards from 1992 to 1994. Alongside his performing career, Crary worked as a professor of speech communication at California State University, Fullerton, authored regular column features for Frets magazine, and received the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2022
In the newsletter
- No. 21 Fall 1999