Tray Wellington is a banjo player from North Carolina who mixes traditional bluegrass with jazz, blues, and hip-hop. He won the IBMA Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the Year in 2019, when his band Cane Mill Road won Momentum Band of the Year. He released Black Banjo in 2022 and won the Steve Martin Banjo Prize in 2024.
Why Wellington matters
Wellington is part of a new generation of Black banjo players reclaiming the instrument’s African American roots. He plays traditional Scruggs style and adds jazz, blues, and hip-hop ideas.
Life and career
Wellington was born in Ashe County, North Carolina, and grew up on Flint Hill Road near Wilkesboro. His grandfather introduced him to classic country. He played electric guitar first and found the banjo in middle school, at 13. He studied bluegrass at East Tennessee State University.
In 2015 he formed Cane Mill Road with Liam Purcell. In 2019 the band won the IBMA Momentum Award for Band of the Year, and Wellington won Instrumentalist of the Year. He was twice a finalist for IBMA New Artist of the Year. In 2020 he formed the Tray Wellington Band. Black Banjo, recorded during the pandemic, came out on Mountain Home in 2022. In 2024 he released Detour to the Moon, which includes a bluegrass cover of Kid Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness, and received the Steve Martin Banjo Prize.
Playing style
Wellington plays and teaches Scruggs style. On his own tunes he adds jazz chords and grooves drawn from hip-hop and blues. He plays a Gibson RB-75.
Influences and legacy
Wellington studied bluegrass at ETSU. At IBMA in 2019 he played beside Pete Wernick. His Black Banjo album highlights the instrument’s Black roots.
Signature tunes and songs
Ocean Moon in Motion Crooked Mind.
Essential recordings
Black Banjo (Mountain Home, 2022) Detour to the Moon (2024)
Awards and honors
IBMA Momentum Award, Instrumentalist of the Year (2019) IBMA Momentum Award, Band of the Year, Cane Mill Road (2019) Steve Martin Banjo Prize (2024)
Watch and listen
Wellington teaches Scruggs style in this Deering lesson.
Here he plays his tune Ocean.
What to learn from Wellington
Take his Scruggs lesson first. Then try one jazz chord, like a major seventh, in a banjo tune you know. The technique to steal is building on the base. Learn the Scruggs base first, then add new ideas on top.
Sources
Tray Wellington, Wikipedia Wellington, Tray, BluegrassBios.com
Related players
See the banjo players hub and the bluegrass banjo guide for more pickers. Wellington played at IBMA with Pete Wernick and builds on the Scruggs style of Earl Scruggs.