GREENSBORO – North Carolinians might not think of New Zealand as a bluegrass hot spot. But that’s where UNC Greensboro-trained Catherine “BB” Bowness first picked up the banjo.

And pandemic or not, Bowness the banjo player has been winning plenty of attention lately. 

The International Bluegrass Music Association couldn’t hold its annual World of Bluegrass festival in Raleigh this year, but IBMA nevertheless recognized Bowness’s band Mile Twelve as its 2020 New Artist of the Year.

Then last week, Bowness was one of five recipients of the 2020 Steve Martin Banjo Prize, which the comedian and banjo-picker uses to recognize talented players.

Bowness taught herself to play banjo as a child. In 2011 she won a scholarship to study in the Miles Davis program in Jazz Studies at UNCG, then completed her bachelor’s degree as the first banjo student ever at the New Zealand School of Music.¹

“She demonstrates a command of the instrument, and plays with great rhythmic clarity both in the traditional and progressive realms,” says legendary banjo player Tony Trischka. “J.D. Crowe co-mingles with the future.”²

---

¹ https://www.flatpik.com/instructors/bb-bowness.
² http://www.catherinebowness.com/about-1.