Ken Perlman is both a pioneer of the "melodic clawhammer" 5-string banjo style as well as a master of fingerstyle guitar. Clawhammer playing -- striking the strings with the back of the fingernails and with the thumb -- is the bedrock banjo style in the old time music tradition of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Rooted in African American rhythms and styles as well as Anglo-Celtic traditions, the clawhammer style is also known as frailing. Ken, whose innovative approach has transformed clawhammer from an accompaniment to a solo style, skillfully adapts Celtic music, developing a repertoire of tunes that have never before been played on 5-string banjo. He draws his material from traditional sources: the music of Scotland, Ireland, Canada's Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton, and the American South. Also an accomplished guitarist, Ken's sparkling finger-picked renditions of traditional Celtic and Southern fiddle tunes are equally stunning as his banjo tunes. Ken's heartfelt singing draws on acoustic blues, ragtime, ballads, minstrel show music, and Southern string band music, as he tells stories, offers accounts of his music-collecting experiences, and makes wry comments on our lives and times. Ken's latest album, released in August, is Northern Banjo (Copper Creek).