I became interested in bluegrass music after listening to country music stations back in the sixties. The music on the radio was okay, but I’d always tune into the station right at the end of the hour before the news when they’d play an upbeat instrumental. Country and western, as you know, has very few of its own instrumentals, so what I listened for were the bluegrass instrumentals. They were uplifting and exciting. I really didn’t know what they were at the time, but I knew I liked them.

I moved around with my family and didn’t come across bluegrass again until after the military and in college in 1973. I bought a Conquerer banjo (it was very pretty) and asked Jack Flippin (near Sherman, Texas) to show me a few things. I bought the Scruggs banjo book, learned a few tunes, bought the “Foggy Mountain Banjo” LP, and was on my way to being hooked.

My other passion is flying. I’ve been an airplane pilot since 1965, professionally since 1974. After stints of flight instruction, charter, Alaskan bush flying, scheduled night freight and commuter airlines, I finally got on with United Airlines as a pilot, where I am a captain today.

I started Folk Music Unlimited in 1982 to promote folk and bluegrass groups in Oregon for a while. I had a syndicated radio show, “Barry’s Bluegrass Show,” on two stations and actually made money at it. This ended in 1985.