Fun facts about Stephen Bennett
The Toronto Finger-Style Guitar Association dubbed him “The Jedi Master of Finger-style Guitar”
(Hey, if someone said that about you, you’d use it in your press release too!)
He’s the founder of The Harp Guitar Gathering®, an annual event that brings players, builders, scholars and fans of this instrument together for a weekend of performances, workshops and camaraderie. The 20th Gathering took place in October 2022 in Sharon, Connecticut.
Stephen’s released 30 recordings under his name, a few more with other people, and been on various compilations, including Masters of the Acoustic Guitar, on the Narada label. He’s at work recording his next album now.
He’s listed in the credits of a Rush album - how fun is that?!?!
Stephen has performed in nearly all of the states here in America, as well as in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Latvia, Sweden, Italy, and the Netherlands and probably somewhere else he can’t remember at this moment.
He was the 1987 National Flatpicking Champion.
He loves this quote from Pierpaolo Adda - producer of the Soave Guitar Festival in Italy: “When I first heard him playing a few years ago, I felt like I had been pushed into a different world, where the lost emotions come back to your heart and make it beat in a different way. What Stephen can do, and few artists have this gift, is to speak directly to your heart and to move your best feelings!”
Stephen has played guitars for 55 years now and lives along the Housatonic River in beautiful northwest Connecticut with his beautiful wife, Nancy.
