Gregg Welty

What this episode covers

Gregg Welty is an award winning banjo player who, at first, did not like the banjo. “I actually really didn’t like it for a long time. Banjos are loud and they have that sound. When you’re a little kid and you’re trying to talk to your dad, it’s right in your face. I really didn’t like it. When I was in middle school I wanted to learn to play an electric guitar. My dad plays very minimal bluegrass guitar, so he taught me everything he knew- on an electric guitar, by the way. Trying to learn those bluegrass licks made me appreciate how challenging bluegrass is.” Welty, a Pitt medical student is about to release his second album, Community that pays tribute to the Bluegrass community. This follows up his debut album, Memoir. “The first record was like ‘I’m a medical student now. I really like music and I’ve always been passionate about music. I don’t have that much time to perform, but I’m gonna release a record and see if I can do it!’ It was more about me. During that process, getting people to come together and build this project, it made me reflect on where I’ve been is more about how people have helped me get to where I am and how the bluegrass community has helped me get where I am. It’s more about other people and that influence on me. That’s really what this new project is about. And how can I represent what I think the bluegrass community is about in a project.” Gregg Welty’s new album Community will be released on October 1st. More information is at his website (https://www.greggwelty.com/ ).