Dan Crary (born 1939) is one of the first players to make flatpicked guitar the lead voice of a bluegrass band. He co-founded the Bluegrass Alliance in 1968 and released a solo guitar album in 1970, years before most bluegrass guitarists took breaks at all. He spent two decades in a trio with fiddler Byron Berline and banjo player John Hickman, and their band California won IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year three years in a row. The IBMA gave him its Distinguished Achievement Award in 2022.
Why Crary matters
Crary proved that a flatpicker could carry a whole record. His 1970 album Bluegrass Guitar put fiddle tunes on the guitar with the guitar out front, and the Bluegrass Alliance he helped start gave Sam Bush and Tony Rice an early home. He also wrote a monthly flatpicking column in Frets magazine in the 1980s and made instructional videos, so a large share of pickers learned the basics from him.
Life and career
Crary was born on September 29, 1939, in Kansas City, Kansas. He went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 1957 to study theology, then to the University of Kansas in 1960, where he played in a folk trio called the Carltons. He moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1967 for doctoral study at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
In Louisville he co-founded the Bluegrass Alliance in 1968. The band played as the house band at the Red Dog Saloon and became one of the first progressive bluegrass groups. Crary left in 1970, and Sam Bush and then Tony Rice filled the guitar chair after him. That same year he released Bluegrass Guitar on American Heritage.
Crary moved to California and taught speech communication at California State University, Fullerton, from 1974 to 2004. He recorded a country rock album with Byron Berline in 1975 and returned to bluegrass with Lady’s Fancy on Rounder in 1977, a record that featured Berline, Sam Bush, Vince Gill, John Cowan, and John Hickman. Berline, Crary, and Hickman played together for about twenty years under the names Sundance, BCH, and California. California added John Moore and Steve Spurgin and won the IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year award in 1992, 1993, and 1994.
Later he formed Crary, Hoppers and Their American Band with banjo player Lonnie Hoppers in 1999, began touring with Italian guitarist Beppe Gambetta in 2002, and formed the band Thunderation in 2009. He produced Primal Twang: The Legacy of the Guitar, a stage show and film about the history of the instrument, in 2006. He lives in Placerville, California.
Playing style
Crary holds the pick with his thumb and two fingers rather than the usual thumb and index grip. He has said the extra finger gives more power with less work, and a listener can hear it in his tone: big, loud, and full on the bass strings. Beppe Gambetta picked up a similar grip after years of duets with him.
His repertoire runs wider than most bluegrass players. He plays fiddle tunes, classical pieces, and his own compositions, and his instructional videos cover dynamic soloing rather than one volume from start to finish.
Influences and legacy
Crary came up in the same 1960s folk revival as Doc Watson and Clarence White, and he put the fiddle tune approach of that era on record early. He played beside Byron Berline, John Hickman, Sam Bush, and Vince Gill. His 1994 album Jammed If I Do brought in Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Norman Blake, and Beppe Gambetta as guests. Gambetta is the player most shaped by him, and the two recorded Synérgia in 2001. Through his Frets columns and Homespun videos, Crary taught a generation of pickers who never met him.
Signature tunes and songs
Lady’s Fancy.
Essential recordings
Bluegrass Guitar (American Heritage, 1970) Lady’s Fancy (Rounder, 1977) Thunderation (Sugar Hill, 1992) Jammed If I Do (Sugar Hill, 1994)
Awards and honors
IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year, California (1992, 1993, 1994) NAIRD Indie Award, Best String Music Recording, Thunderation (1992) IBMA Liner Notes of the Year, Chambergrass: A Decade of Tunes from the Edges of Bluegrass (2003) IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award (2022)
Watch and listen
Crary plays a medley of flatpicking tunes. Watch his right hand and the three-finger pick grip.
What to learn from Crary
Learn Lady’s Fancy from the 1977 record. It is a bright fiddle tune in D, and Crary’s version gives a clear melody with runs that stay inside the tune. The technique to steal is his dynamics. Play a break where the first pass is soft and the second pass is loud. Most jam guitarists play every note at one volume. A break that grows holds a listener, and it works even at slow speeds.
Sources
Dan Crary, IBMA award recipients California, IBMA award recipients Dan Crary, Wikipedia Crary, Dan, BluegrassBios.com Artist Profiles: Dan Crary, World Music Central Dan Crary, Lady’s Fancy, Discogs Dan Crary: Unique Method of Holding Flatpick, Acoustic Guitar Videos
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Crary’s Bluegrass Alliance chair passed to Tony Rice. He recorded with Norman Blake and Doc Watson, and he shaped Beppe Gambetta. His long-time fiddle partner was Byron Berline.