Karen May
Karen was born into a musical family. Some of her
fondest early memories include holiday get-
where many of her family members, Including her
grandparents, would play old-
Furniture would be moved aside to make room for a
square dance, and the little ones would eventually
fall asleep under a pile of coats to the sound of fiddles
sawing away in the next room. Karen has always loved to sing.
She started playing guitar at the age of ten, but tried her hand at piano and harmonica as well.
As a teenager, Karen played saxophone in a Big Band, playing at shows and dances around the Muskoka region in Ontario.
After a long musical drought, Karen discovered bluegrass in the late 90's, and it was like a revelation! She bought an old stand up bass and learned to play to Alison Krauss Union Station CDs. (Barry Bales doesn't know he taught her how to play!)
Within a year she was playing bass in a local bluegrass band and attending every festival she could. Karen attends IBMA and SPBGMA in Nashville faithfully and is now making use of the many wonderful connections she has made for promoting Railway Country and Bluegrass Festival in Cookstown, Ontario, and for her role as a director of the Bluegrass Music Association of Central Canada. (www.railwayblues.com). Her passion for bluegrass is infectious both onstage and off.
