Biography
Banjoholic, Mary Z. Cox, third generation Floridian, has played banjo since she was 12, and is a two time Florida banjo champion. Mary Z has been a recording artist since 1999, and records cds, plays concerts & festivals, gives workshops, and authors banjo & dulcimer instruction books. Her music has been played on National Public Radio’s, “Thistle & Shamrock”, “All Songs Considered,” Pandora World Music Genome, & the BBC. Mary’s version of the traditional song, “Sally In the Garden” will be in the soundtrack of an upcoming film in the Hunger Games series.
Girl With the Banjo Tattoo, her most recent cd was selected as a “Best Banjo CD of 2011” by the editor of Banjo Newsletter. Mary has 7 cds and 7 instructional books in print and she is grateful and humbled that so many folks from all over the world order and download them and write to say how much they enjoy the music and the instruction.
Mary will be teaching a five day claw hammer banjo camp in April 2013 at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina, where she has been an instructor for over a decade.
She has also taught banjo workshops at the Florida Folk Festival, the Lagniappe Dulcimer Fete, Suwannee Banjo Camp, Sunshine State Music Camp, Will McLean Festival, Florida Old Time Banjo Camp, and in Charlotte, NC, Charleston, SC, Albuquerque, NM, & Pasadena, CA.
Mary is also a Florida mountain dulcimer champion, as well as a four-time champion (2011, 2009, 2007, & 2006) at the Transylvania (NC) Old Time Music Competition, and first place winner at the 2006 Uncle Dave Macon Days in Tennessee.
She has taught mountain dulcimer workshops at the Lagniappe dulcimer Fete, Suwannee Dulcimer Retreat, Fall NGFDA Festival at Unicoi, Florida Folk Festival, the Will McLean Festival and in Charlotte, NC & Charleston SC. Her dulcimer articles, tabs, & mp3s have been published in the Dulcimer Player News. “Easy String Band Method For the Mountain Dulcimer” (instructional book/cd) sells to dulcimer students worldwide and is available on Mary’s website: maryzcox.com
Bob Cox (Mary’s husband and a mighty fine guitarist) has entertained audiences and friends from coast to coast. Please contact us if you would like to book us for concerts, festivals, or workshops in 2013 or 2014—we just might be traveling your way.
Mary shares her home with 16 banjos and 12 mountain dulcimers and loves playing them. Her motto is:
“If you suspect you need a new banjo or dulcimer—you do. Trust your musical instincts. If an instrument calls to you to buy it, don’t fight destiny. It was meant to be ”
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
