Rafe Stefanini is an old-time banjo player, fiddler, guitarist, singer, teacher, violin maker, and restorer. He was born in

San Benedetto Val di Sambro San Benedetto Val di Sambro ( Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southwest of Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian langu ...

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

, northern Italy and grew up in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. He first visited the United States in 1975, and came to live in the U.S. in 1983. He became a U.S. citizen, and lived for many years in

Elkins Park Elkins Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the northern suburbs outside of Philadelphia, which it borders along Cheltenham Avenue roughly from Cent ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

, a suburb of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, before relocating to

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, a neighborhood of

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

, in July 2021. In addition to playing music, he is also trained in violin making and restores violins. He has performed with the Wildcats (along with Carol Elizabeth Jones and

Stefan Senders Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

. Along with Dirk Powell and Bruce Molsky he has performed with a trio called the L-7s. He has also performed with Molsky and guitarist Beverly Smith in a group called Big Hoedown, a group that disbanded in 2000. Along with Meredith McIntosh,

John Hermann John "JoJo" Hermann is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known for his involvement in the band Widespread Panic. Early life He was born in New York City and attended Collegiate School, where he was a classmate of actor Billy ...

, and Bev Smith, he has performed in the Rockinghams. He has also recorded with Bob Herring. He performs with his wife Nikki Lee (who plays guitar) and daughter Clelia (who plays fiddle, guitar, double bass, and ukulele) as "Nine Pound Hammer." Together, the three make up the Stefanini Family Band. He has recorded for the Rounder,

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, Marimac, Heritage, Yodel-ay-hee, 5-String Productions, and World Music Network labels. Stefanini has performed on ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed '' Live from ...

'' and at the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

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Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

. His brothers Gianni and Bruno also play old-time music and the three performed in The Moonshine Brothers, which formed in the late 1970s and remained together until Stefanini moved to the U.S. in 1983.

Discography

As leader

*1999 - ''Hell and Scissors'' (County) *2001 - ''Glory on the Big String'' (County) *2006 - ''Bluegrass Meadows'' (5-String) *2006 - ''Ladies Fancy'' (County)

With Bob Herring

*1995 - ''Old Paint'' (Yodel-ay-hee) *2004 - ''Fresh Coat'' (5-String)

With Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown

*1997 - ''Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown'' (Rounder)

With Clelia Stefanini

*2009 - ''Never Seen the Like...''

With The Wildcats

*''Old Time Music'' ( Marimac) *''On Our Knees'' (Yodel-ay-hee)

Compilations

*''Galax International'' (Heritage) *''5th Annual Galax Fiddlers Convention 1985'' (Heritage) *2002 - ''Rough Guide to the Music of the Appalachians'' (World Music Network) *2003 - ''The Art Of Old-Time Mountain Music'' (Rounder)

Other

*''The Rockinghams'' (Yodel-ay-hee) *''Shout Lulu'' (with The Rockinghams) *''Old Time Friends'' (with Ray Alden and others) (Marimac) *''The Young Fogies'' (Heritage) *''Mike Seeger's 3rd Annual Farewell Reunion'' (with Mike Seeger and others; 1995 Grammy nominee) (Rounder) *''A Tribute to the Appalachian String Band Music Festival'' (with The L7s) (Chubby Dragon) *''The Marimac Anthology'' (Rounder) *''Young Fogies Vol. 2'' (with The L7s) (Rounder) *''Red Prairie Dawn'' (with Gary Harrison & The Mule Team) (Gary Harrison) *''The Immigrant Band (with John Doyle, Eamon O'Leary, John Herrman, and Clelia Stefanini

References

External links

Official siteMySpace page
*

Allmusic entry AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the datab ...

br>Rafe & Clelia Stefanini MySpace page

Videos

Video documentary from the Pennsylvania Cable Network
(August 30, 2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefanini, Rafe Banjoists Appalachian old-time fiddlers Italian musical instrument makers Italian guitarists Italian male guitarists Italian male singers Living people Musicians from Bologna Old-time musicians Musicians from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania 1950s births Italian emigrants to the United States Singers from Nashville, Tennessee People from the Province of Bologna