Edgar Meyer

While performers whose music defies neat categorization are often described as “boundary-pushing,” few artists can be said to have truly mastered as many disparate styles as bassist/multi-instrumentalist Edgar Meyer. As both a Nashville session musician and a member of progressive bluegrass super group Strength in Numbers, Meyer became the go-to double bassist for top-tier bluegrass, country, rock, folk, and pop artists such as Bela Fleck, Garth Brooks, Elton John, the Indigo Girls, and scores of others. In addition to dabbling in jazz, Meyer is recognized as one of the leading classical music virtuosos on his notoriously hard-to-master instrument. Further, he is an accomplished composer, authoring pieces for violin, bass, banjo, and cello. In 1994 he became the only bassist to receive the Avery Fisher Career Grant and in 2000 became the only bassist to receive the Avery Fisher Prize. Perhaps Meyer’s most celebrated projects, however, are his collaborative efforts with violinist Mark O’Connor and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, APPALACHIA WALTZ and APPALACHIAN JOURNEY. Both albums topped the charts and many critics’ “best-of” lists and combine his twin loves of classical and traditional music. ~ Rovi