Silvio Ferretti
Banjo – Voice
I was born in 1952, the year of “High noon”, the first polio vaccine, and “Take the A train”. I studied piano for 8 years, I thought it was a lot back then but I really hadn’t even scratched the surface, and it took a steel-string guitar, the Beatles, the Shadows, and Paul Simon to make me play music more seriously, and most of all having fun.
I started playing the banjo (and some guitar) with Beppe Gambetta in 1975, and we put together Red Wine in 1978. Since then I’ve devoted myself to playing old-time music, initially, and bluegrass with the passion that one has when searching for “that” sound that can be found on the records by Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, and of course “Will the circle be unbroken” Vol. 1. With the few exceptions of 2 years with the Green Cellar Society, the stint with the international band Freewheelin’ (several gigs, but diluted in a 7-year span), and some subbing with minor bands (such as the Bluegrass Express, and the Tora Bora Boys from San Francisco in the past couple of years), Red Wine has been my musical “home” for almost 37 years, and I’m proud of it.
