From small-town Middle America to a member of the IBMA’s current Entertainer of the Year – The Grascals, Aaron McDaris’ apparent storybook success isn’t merely the magical culmination of hard work and passion for the music. The 31-year-old banjo player from Hartville, Missouri has remained humble, listened, learned, and cultivated a professional career in bluegrass.

Aaron literally fi rst picked up music when he was 11. He was carrying his father’s guitar one night, and his father asked if he’d like to learn a chord. Shortly thereafter, his father – a preacher with a bluegrass band that needed a bass player – found Aaron a bass, taught him to play, and made him the band’s bassist. Then the banjo player taught Aaron some rolls and loaned him a banjo for a week. “It kind of went from there. The banjo stuck with me from there on out.”

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