Instructors
Dean Osborne
Beginning his career in 1980, Dean Osborne has had a hand in just about every area of the bluegrass music business. As a bandleader, he and the Eastbound Band were nominated for IBMA emerging artist of the year. As an event producer, his credits include the Red Mule Festival, the J.D. Crowe Bluegrass Festival, and the Osborne Brothers hometown Festival, the latter being nominated for IMBA Event of the Year in 2001. As an instructor, Dean was named the director of the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music in March of 2006, located in Hyden. Dean and his wife Sarah are the proud parents of son Jesse and daughter Royce.
Bobby Osborne
In the world of acoustic music, the name Bobby Osborne is synonymous with the terms legend," "nationally renowned vocalist," and "master mandolin stylist." As a 50-year member of the Osborne Brothers, the Hyden, Kentucky native became the first bluegrass artist to perform on a college campus as well as the first to sing at the White House. A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1964, Bobby was also the first to record what would later become the Tennessee state song and the MOST recorded song in bluegrass history, Rocky Top. In 2005, Bobby became a solo artist launching his band, the Rocky Top X-Press. Most recently, a 2007 Grammy nomination adds one more reason fans and critics the world over consider him the greatest bluegrass singer in history! His latest release on Rounder Records is entitled Bluegrass Melodies.
Scott Napier
Scott Napier has been a Professional Musician since 1996 touting two decades of experience. He's toured extensively throughout the United States and in countries such as Japan, Israel, and Canada. He is an accomplished mandolin and guitar player, as well as a traditional music composer and songwriter, having written dozens of songs to date. Scott has extensive intrumental and vocal recording experience in the studio, with numerous award-winning bluegrass and traditional music artists. Scott has performed with bluegrass award winning groups such as Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, Dale Ann Bradley, Marty Raybon, Bobby Osborne, Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, The Whites, and more. He has released a nationally acclaimed solo mandolin project, and will soon release a instructional DVD for the mandolin. Scott has performed and taught mandolin on a Bluegrass Caribbean Cruise, at a 4th of July Celebration at the Washington Monument, A Prairie Home Companion radio program, and a major motion picture sound track recording. He is still a regular invitee to the International Bluegrass Music Award Conference to speak, perform and instruct on the mandolin, and is a private mandolin and guitar instructor for bluegrass workshops, music composition workshop instructor. Currently Scott is a band member with the international performing group Lost and Found, a group which has been successful on the bluegrass and traditional music circuit for over 40 years.
Virgil Bowlin
Virgil Bowlin joins the faculty at Hazard Community and Technical College with more than 23 years of experience in performing and teaching bluegrass and old-time Appalachian music. He is happy to be part of the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional music, where he stresses to students: "Be true to who you are. Don't look back. Never give up. It's always about the next goal or the next attempt. Take small steps toward large goals and always seek a better version of yourself."
Bowlin was born into a musical family on the site of the Peerless Coal Camp near Williamsburg. Virgil is a talented songwriter, vocalist, and instrumentalist, noted Dean Osborne, director of KSBTM.
Osborne noted, "A musician the caliber of Vigil Bowlin, who also possesses a tremendous talent as a recording engineer, only comes along once in a great while. Coupled with a true heart for instruction of students at all levels and multi-instrumental performance credentials, KSBTM is very fortunate to have Vigil on our team."
Many may know him from his days performing in a music group called the Bowlin Family, which performed at churches, civic groups, and the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
After college, Bowlin was hired by the legendary, award-winning bluegrass music artist/band Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, performing at venues including the National 4th of July Celebration in Washington D.C., the historic Ryman Auditorium, and the world-famous Grand Old Opry. Virgil appeared on a Larry Sparks CD titled Special Delivery and also in a Larry Sparks music video. Bowlin and fellow faculty member Scott Napier both worked with Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers (1996-2000), and he's glad their paths have crossed again--this time in a teaching venue.
Virgil taught music in public schools from 2003 to 2008 in both the Laurel and Whitley County school systems.
Bowlin continues with his music in a variety of ways. He sings, plays, and teaches many instruments, including voice, mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle, lap dulcimer, upright bass, piano, resophonic guitar, and others. He also conducts shape-note singing schools, performs as a studio musician, tunes pianos, and transcribes music into different kinds of tablature and into standard music notation. Moreover, he is proficient in the use of Finale, MuseScore, and Table Edit transcription software and teaches workshops at various festivals and shows, including several IBMA teacher workshops.
Virgil is the owner and engineer of a recording studio, Peerless Studios, and is proficient in the use of Pro Tools and Cubase recording software. He has recorded musicians with skill levels ranging from amateurs to "pro pickers," such as Steven Moore, the two-time national banjo champion; Brady Wallen of the Clay Hess Band; Wanda Barnett of the New Coon Creek Girls; and Richard Bennett, the long-time bluegrass pro.
One album recorded by Virgil, Robert Mulinax and His Native Flute, was nominated for a Native American Music Award (NAMA). Virgil also fronts a bluegrass band called Virgil Bowlin and Peerless Mountain and gives many performances that emphasize the Appalachian music he loves. Many of these concerts are directed toward children. "It is important to me to recognize and study the importance of the bluegrass and old-time music from the past while striving to be an integral part of the inevitable evolution of music today and in the future," he said.
Bowlin has a bachelor's degree in music from Cumberland College (now University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg.
He lives near London with his wife, Angie. The couple has six children.
