To that end she has worked intensively in cheese, earning her stripes as an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional. She even took second place in the Cheesemonger Invitational, no simple trivia game.
Her early ambitions were focused on earning a PhD in German lit, but a stint at a cheese counter compelled her to shift her focus to, you guessed it, cheese. He was described as a melodic banjo player, experimenting with merging styles like blues, rock and bluegrass.How does a German Literature scholar make the shift from academia to cheese? Seattle-based cheesemonger and bona fide curd nerd Courtney Johnson has a passion for education. He was very fond of improvisation, which fit very well when he played in the New Grass Revival. Playing style Īlthough Johnson was influenced by traditional banjo players like Earl Scruggs and Ralph Stanley, he was always interested in playing more progressive styles. The concert also included John Hartford, Hot Rize, Tim O'Brien, Vassar Clements, Del McCoury Band, Ricky Skaggs, Pete Rowan, Jerry Douglas and others. New Grass Revival, which disbanded in 1989, reunited for this occasion (with Béla Fleck on banjo). On September 24 of that year, a benefit concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee was organized by his friend Sam Bush. Johnson died on June 7, 1996, aged 56, diagnosed with lung cancer. Johnson later put together a band including Burch on dobro/guitar, himself on banjo/guitar, his wife Hazel on mandolin/guitar and Eric Albany on bass. They continued playing locally in several bands including the Courtney Johnson Band, Barren County and BJT (Burch, Johnson, Timberlake). In 1981, Johnson and Burch left the New Grass Revival, citing that they were tired of touring. His trademark banjo solos with the band include songs such as "When the Storm Is Over", "Steam Powered Aeroplane", "Fly through the Country", "This Heart of Mine", "Crooked Smile", "Souvenir Bottles", "Great Balls of Fire" and others. He is considered as a very innovative banjo player, although not as polished as later group member Béla Fleck. During his years with New Grass Revival, he developed the banjo playing to new levels. He occasionally played dobro as well and occasionally sang harmony. Most of the band members were multi-instrumentalists and Johnson often switched from banjo and guitar, sometimes even during one song on stage. This line-up recorded the band's self-titled album in 1972.Īfter some early changes on the bass position, the group recruited rock bassist John Cowan and recorded 5 albums in this setup. The group name comes from the style they created, "Newgrass", a term that Sam Bush credited to Ebo Walker. New Grass Revival was formed by Bush, Johnson, Walker and Curtis Burch in 1971, after they left Lonnie Peerce and decided to create their own band. The Bluegrass Alliance eventually reformed in 1998 with all new members. Other members of the group were busy with other projects and all that led, consequently, to disbanding of the group and creation of the New Grass Revival. Band frontman Lonnie Peerce suffered with health problems and the band went on hiatus several times. The Bluegrass Alliance is often considered as one of the bands that started to play progressive bluegrass.
In 1971, Johnson also joined the band, consisting of Bush, fiddler Lonnie Peerce, guitarist Tony Rice and bassist Ebo Walker. They played together in local clubs until 1970, when Bush left to join the Bluegrass Alliance band. In 1969, Sam Bush asked Courtney to join his band, Poor Richard's Almanac. Johnson played in several local bands, including the Rocky Road Boys with Bill Hatfield on fiddle and Bill Logsdon on guitar. He worked as a mechanic in a service station at his hometown of Hiseville, Kentucky before he earned enough money as a musician.
Johnson began to play guitar at the age of seven, but didn't pick up the banjo until he was about 25 years old.