Paige Anderson - Koa & Adirondak RD Nashville Flattpicker

Lead and rhythm guitar player, lead singer and band emcee for Anderson Family Bluegrass, Paige (born in 1994) has attracted national attention for her musical prowess.  She was featured in "Teen Scene" in Bluegrass Now-the magazine's editor called her "a remarkable talent" - and profiled in Flatpick Guitar Magazine.  She also plays clawhammer banjo and mandolin and is currently serving as the Teen Ambassador for the California Bluegrass Association.

The Anderson Family's story as a band dates to the family's 2001 move to Grass Valley, a northern California town steeped in gold rush history.  The Andersons live about 10 minutes from the fairgrounds where the California Bluegrass Association holds its annual festival-the first festival the whole family attended was in 2001, when Daisy was just 8½ weeks old.

At the CBA festival in 2003, Paige and Aimee were inspired by a performance of "Kids on Bluegrass", the CBA's popular program for very young pickers.  Shortly after that festival, Paige started taking guitar lessons so she could play along with Mark, a fledgling banjo picker.  Aimee picked up the fiddle a couple of months after that, starting out on a quarter-size instrument and also taking lessons.

By the 2004 festival, Paige and Aimee were participants in "KOB", gaining valuable musical and on-stage experience and performing the two tunes the sisters had spent months working out, "Cripple Creek" and "Old Joe Clark".  As Paige recalls their debut, "When our turn came, we walked out on the stage and played our first song and got a huge response.  Aimee and I looked at each other with really big smiles on our faces".

It's fair to say the band was born at that moment.  Christy started playing the upright bass, after a false start on the dobro.  Ethan picked up the mandolin, enthralled by the picking of Bill Monroe.  Daisy started out fiddling on the quarter-size fiddle Aimee had outgrown, displaying an unerring sense of rhythm at a very young age.  The family started playing in public early in 2005 and it's been full speed ahead since then.

The band typically performs throughout California to Washington, Nevada and Arizona at bluegrass festivals, county fairs, performing arts centers, radio stations, TV stations, state parks, campgrounds, farmers markets, weddings and many other events.

In June 2008, the Anderson Family won the Best Bluegrass Band award at the Northern California Artistic Achievement Awards ("The Grassies") in Nevada City, California.