The Pegheads are an accomplished group of musicians united by a love of traditional bluegrass and respect for each other’s musicianship. The ensemble features 17-year Northern Lights veteran Mike Kropp (banjo), multi-instrumentalist blues/folk artist Martin Grosswendt (guitar), former Neon Valley Boys and Northern Lights member Jeff Horton (bass), former “Neon” Karl Dennis (fiddle), and wunderkind Ben Pearce (mandolin). Mike Kropp is one of the country’s premier three-finger-style banjoists. A member of Northern Lights for 17 years, he recorded CDs for Flying Fish, Red House Records, and Prime CD. Since the 1960s he has performed and recorded with artists ranging from Vassar Clements and Peter Rowan to Don MacLean and Jonathan Edwards. Mike is fluent in all styles of five-string banjo playing, including traditional Scruggs picking and modern newgrass, as well as folk, old time and classical. Mike has taught banjo and participated in workshops at festivals throughout the US. Martin Grosswendt, once described by U. Utah Phillips as “a rumor in his own time,” has been a presence on the folk and traditional music scene for nearly three decades. A musician’s musician and singer, he plays guitar, five-string banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass, and dobro. Martin began his career at 17 as a session musician for Philo Records and established a solo career playing at festivals and coffeehouses across the country. In recent years he has pursue his obsession with Cajun and old time music as the bassist with Magnolia and guitarist with The Pegheads. Jeff Horton has been playing and singing bluegrass for over thirty ears, his vocal range and power earning him the nickname “Hurricane” Horton. He was a founding member of the Neon Valley Boys, once Rhode Island’s premiere bluegrass band. From 1990 he played with Northern Lights for six years, touring nationally and recording three CDs. Jeff has performed with Jonathan Edwards, Peter Rowan, and fiddle legend Vassar Clements. He also plays with an Irish band and the Mary Maguire Band. Karl Dennis has long been a fixture in Rhode Island folk and bluegrass circles. Karl was a founding member of the Neon Valley Boys and has performed with a number of other bands through the years, including Cheap Music and The Lost Melody Ramblers. A fine singer and instrumentalist, he is known for his fiddle playing but is also proficient on guitar and banjo, as well as mandolin and any other instrument he picks up. Ben Pearce was originally a marginal concert pianist, and now makes his musical magic on an F-5 mandolin and finds transporting his instrument from gig to gig much easier. Recently relocated from our nation’s capitol, where he spent his time out from behind the mandolin in and out of culinary institutions, he is a long-time student of bluegrass music and a sharp dresser. A recent graduate of RISD with a graduate degree in architecture, Ben is now a full-time luthier, producing fine guitars and mandolins under the name Outlier Workshops.

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