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Michael Daves

Recording Artist · Active 2007–present · Also a musician
Traditional Bluegrass Contemporary Bluegrass Folk / Americana

Michael Daves is a Brooklyn-based traditional bluegrass guitarist and singer whose Grammy-nominated duo album "Sleep With One Eye Open" with Chris Thile and his long Tuesday-night Rockwood Music Hall residency made him "a leading light of the New York bluegrass scene" per The New York Times.

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  • Born 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, into a musical family (banjo-playing father, fiddle-playing mother); attended local Atlanta-area jams as a child.
  • Studied at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, gravitating toward experimental music and jazz before returning to his bluegrass roots.
  • Relocated to Brooklyn in 2003 and has been called "a leading light of the New York bluegrass scene" by The New York Times.
  • Recorded the duo album "Sleep With One Eye Open" with Chris Thile (Nonesuch, 2011), which received a 2011 Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album.
  • Released the two-album set "Orchids and Violence" (Nonesuch, February 2016), pairing traditional bluegrass with electrified arrangements; collaborators included Mike Bub, Brittany Haas, Sarah Jarosz, and Noam Pikelny.
  • Has collaborated with Steve Martin, Tony Trischka, Rosanne Cash, and Bruce Molsky.
  • Held a long-running Tuesday-night residency at Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan beginning in 2006.
  • Active guitar teacher and recording-studio operator in Brooklyn.

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