Showcase Artist JEFF SCROGGINS AND COLORADO Jeff Scroggins and Colorado is a high energy, high mountain “bluegrass explosion,” that features the amazing musicianship of former national bluegrass banjo champion Jeff Scroggins and his 19 year old son and award winning mandolinist Tristan Scroggins. Their fiery style and lightning fast licks have earned them many fans worldwide, and have left many a first time listener in stunned disbelief.
Oklahoma native Jeff Scroggins took up banjo as a teenager under the guidance of legendary banjo player Alan Munde. He continued to hone his craft and has won numerous banjo contests at the state, regional, and national levels, including the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas. Jeff is an internationally known performer and teacher; he has taken his fiery banjo style to stages around the world, including performances in Russia, Japan, Canada, and even the island of Borneo in Malaysia. Jeff teaches at Swallow Hill in Denver, Colorado, and he and the rest of the band teach at many bluegrass music camps in the US and abroad. Jeff has performed and recorded with many of the top names in bluegrass and beyond, and his work has been featured in numerous radio and TV commercials, and in film.

Tristan Scroggins, who says that he has been listening to bluegrass music since nine months before he was born grew up hearing and absorbing his father’s music and now matches him note for note with his own stunning mandolin chops. Tristan began playing the mandolin at the age of nine, and he has also won many contests; the first one only five months after he started playing! Tristan is an accomplished and prolific writer of instrumental music and both his and Jeff’s original instrumentals and unique arrangements of music from many sources play a large role in the band’s unique energetic sound. Tristan recently released a CD of his instrumental music entitled “Disappointed Idealist,” on which he not only played all of the instruments and wrote all of the songs, but also did the recording, engineering, production, photography and artwork!!
The band also features incredible bluegrass vocals, led by the powerful voice of front man and West Virginia native Greg Blake. Greg has twice been nominated for the SPBGMA Midwest “Traditional Male Vocalist of the Year” award and his phenomenal bluegrass guitar playing has earned him 9 nominations and an amazing 5 consecutive wins as the SPBGMA Midwest Guitarist of the Year! When Jeff and Tristan decided to start the band, Greg was the first person they called, and from the very beginning Greg’s voice, guitar playing and emcee work have been and essential and defining part of the band’s sound. Greg has recently fulfilled his lifelong dream of recording his own solo CD; it is called “Songs of Hear and Home” and it is scheduled for release in early 2015. It features an all-star lineup, including Mark Schatz, Blaine Sprouse, John Reischman, Claire Lynch, Laurie Lewis, Jeff Brown and Jeff Scroggins. Sally Van Meter produced the project as well as contributing some dobro and harmony vocals.
Bassist Sebie Denson was a founding member of Jeff Scroggins and Colorado, and he has returned, bringing with him his infectious smile and his high energy bass playing! Sebie is a graduate of the South Plains College Bluegrass program, where he focused on harmony singing, which he learned to love while growing up in the church which his father pastored.
Fiddler Ellie Hakanson is the band’s newest member. Ellie grew up performing with her family band in the Portland, Oregon area, and she is not only a powerful fiddler, but a wonderful bluegrass singer as well. Ellie picked up her bluegrass chops listening to and picking with the top names in bluegrass on the West coast, and they instilled in her a deep love and understanding of bluegrass music that shines through in every note she plays and sings.
Jeff Scroggins and Colorado has a truly unique and compelling sound that is built around the musical relationship and