Herb Pedersen

A longtime staple of the bluegrass scene, singer and multi-instrumentalist Herb Pedersen was born April 27, 1944, in Berkeley, CA. The child of a policeman, he was introduced to country music at numerous Bay Area folk festivals, finding kindred spirits in fellow aspiring musicians like Jerry Garcia (who went on to form The Grateful Dead) and David Nelson (later of The New Riders Of The Purple Sage). In his mid-teens, Pedersen formed his first bluegrass band, The Pine Valley Boys.



In 1961, Pedersen began working in Nashville, performing on Carl Tipton's Bluegrass TV Show. After a 1963 stint with David Grisman's Smokey Grass Boys, he joined the veteran bluegrass performers Vern and Ray as a singer and five-string banjo player. His work with the duo brought him to the attention of Earl Scruggs, who in 1967 tapped Pedersen to fill in for him during his recovery from a hip operation. A year later, he replaced Doug Dillard in The Dillards for 1968's Wheatstraw Suite and 1970's Copperfields.

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