Jonathan Allan "Jody" Stecher (born June 1, 1946) is an American singer and musician. He is best known as a bluegrass and old time musician, playing

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, fiddle and guitar and two of his albums with Kate Brislin have been finalists for the

Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Recording. An award for Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, Best Contemporar ...

. He also plays sursringar (a relative of the sarod) in the Dagar gharana tradition of

dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music (for example in the Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampradaya), and is als ...

Early life

Jonathan Allan Stecher was born on June 1, 1946, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. At the age of twelve he found a dusty fretless Gatcomb banjo in an

antique shop An antique shop (or antiques shop) is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops generally have a physical presence in a shop where the wares are stored and displayed, but some antique shops are online, with no phy ...

and bought it for two dollars. After gaining a solid grounding in bluegrass, cajun, blues and Scottish folk music, he studied

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...

for 3 years with Ali Akbar Khan and for 10 years with Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.

Musical career

He has collaborated with Krishna Bhatt on an unusual album of fusion music, ''Rasa'' (1982). He met Kate Brislin (a former member of Any Old Time String Band) in 1974, and they started performing actively as a duo in 1985; they married on 29 July 1987. He is regarded as one of the leading traditional folk artists in America, and his recordings have served a large and diverse group of musicians, including

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He also wrote t ...

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Martin Simpson, Seldom Scene, Laurie Lewis, Kathy Kallick,

Alasdair Fraser Alasdair Fraser (born 14 May 1955, Clackmannan, Scotland) is a Scottish fiddler, composer, performer, and recording artist. Fraser operates Culburnie Records and is a leading artist on the label. He has founded various summer fiddling prog ...

and Hot Rize. He has also written liner notes for many albums. He recorded the field recordings (with Peter K. Siegel) and wrote the liner notes for the record ''The Real Bahamas''. Stecher has been twice nominated for a Grammy with his wife Kate: in 1993 for ''Our Town'' (Best Traditional Folk Album), and again in 1998 for ''Heart Songs: The Old Time Country Songs of Utah Phillips'' (Best Traditional Folk Album of 1997). More recently he has devoted albums to singing traditional folk songs.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Snake Baked a Hoecake'' (1974) * ''Going Up on the Mountain'' (1977) * ''Oh the Wind and Rain'' (1999) * ''Wonders & Signs'' (2012) * ''Dreams from the Overlook'', 2 CDs (2020)

With Krishna Bhatt

* ''Rasa'' (1981)

With Kate Brislin

* ''A Song That Will Linger'' (1989) * ''Blue Lightning'' (1991) * ''Our Town'' (1993) * ''Stay Awhile'' (1995) * ''Heart Songs: The Old Time Country Songs of Utah Phillips'' (1997) * ''Songs of the Carter Family'' (2000) * ''Return'' (2010)

With Alasdair Fraser

* ''The Driven Bow'' (1989)

With Bob Black, Chris Brashear, Peter McLaughlin, Ed Neff, and Forrest Rose

* ''Perfect Strangers'' (2003)

References

External links

*
DawgnetAppleseedInterview from Utsav 2006, SeattleAward & Pictures from Union Grove Fiddler's Convention 1967Award & Pictures from Union Grove Fiddler's Convention 1968Jam Session Photo from Union Grove 1968
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stecher, Jody American folk musicians American folk singers American male singers 1946 births Living people American fingerstyle guitarists Claddagh Records artists