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Farewells & Welcomes

With our next tour (starting November 30) and the end of this year comes a goodbye to our good friend and amazing guitarist, Clay Ross.  Clay joined the band in the spring of 2009 and brought with him a wide range of musical influences that added immensely to the AVB’s stage show and sound.  Audiences around the world were amazed by his kosikas (aka red balls!)  We’ve spent a lot of time together, on stage and off, and are really going to miss him.

Even though we’re sad to see him go, we are celebrating the fact that it’s for good reason.  Clay is excited to focus on his band “Matuto” which mixes the best of bluegrass and brazilian music for a sound that’s like a “Carnaval in the Appalachian mountains” as well as other projects.  Thanks for the great times and music Clay, and here’s wishing you all the best!

We are honoured to welcome back our wonderful multi-instrumentalist and ex-AVB guitarist Isaac Callender in January 2012.  Isaac has agreed to grace us with his presence and skills until May (including our Australian tour!) when our new full time guitarist will join us!

And finally…  Welcome Hayes Griffin to the mad-touring life of the AVB!  Hayes was raised in central Ohio and started playing guitar at the age of nine.  Inspired by the sounds of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and Tony Rice, Hayes completely immer

sed himself in the world of bluegrass and acoustic music at a young age.  As a teenager, Hayes gained local recognition as two-time champion of the Dan Emmett Flatpicking Competition.  Around this time his musicals interests began to broaden and he studied not only bluegrass but also jazz music at Denison University, where he earned a B.A. in Music Performance in 2010.  More recntly, Hayes has been an active member of Boston’s vibrant acoustic music scene, while pursuing a masters’s degree in Contemporary Improvisation at the New England Conservatory (which he will have earned by the time he starts touring with the AVB next May!)