Karen May

Karen was born into a musical family. Karen is a founding member of HoneyGrass.

Some of her fondest early memories include holiday get togethers where many of her family members, including her grandparents, would play old-time music. Furniture would be moved aside to make room for a square dance, and the children 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 concerts and dances around the Muskoka region in Ontario. After a long musical drought, Karen discovered bluegrass in the 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 (www.railfest.ca). She served three years as a director for the Bluegrass Music Association of Central Canada. Her passion for bluegrass is infectious both onstage and off.