Pete and Joan Wernick opened July 21 at Rock & Rails

A large crowd came early to the July 21 Rock & Rails concert, and were treated to an opening performance by "Dr. Banjo and Nurse Banjo," otherwise known as Pete and Joan Wernick, who have made their home just across the Diagonal Highway on Oxford Road since 1976.

Pete played banjo, and his wife Joan accompanied him on the guitar, with both contributing vocals. Pete and Joan have a unique progressive bluegrass, country music style. Joan also has a wonderful voice she shared, singing some of the ballads they played.

Pete is a world-renowned banjo player, having performed all over the world.

Pete once performed on the David Letterman show in September, 2005, and New Yorker Festival. with a group organized by Steve Martin, christened by Wernick as "Men With Banjos (Who Know How To Use Them). This famous banjo group included Steve Martin, Earl Scruggs, Tony Ellis, Charles Wood, and of course, Niwot's very own Pete Wernick. He has performed with many musical legends from Doc Watson to Bill Monroe to Jerry Garcia, and performed at actor Martin's wedding.

Pete Wernick is a respected author, teacher, songwriter, and president of The International Bluegrass Music Association. His national music career began in 1971 with the first records by Northeast Instrumental Wizards Country Cooking.

In 1978, Pete helped start Hot Rize, which has made a significant and substantial contribution to local and national bluegrass music venues, appearing both nationally and on three of the world's continents. One of Hot Rize's first performances came at the Left Hand Grange in Niwot. The band's alter-ego comedy country-western group, "Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers," performed halfway through every Hot Rize show, with Wernick on slide guitar as Waldo Otto.

Over the years, Pete has toured in Russia, Europe, Israel, and Canada. Currently, he and his singer/guitar-playing wife form the duet, Pete & Joan Wernick.

Pete's music instruction books, CD's, and videos are top sellers in their respective fields: BlueGrass Banjo, Bluegrass Song Book, How to Make a Band Work, and many other publications are all part of his prolific career. He is a pioneer in bluegrass music instruction, and since 1980 his banjo camps, bluegrass jam camps, and clinics have been inspiring banjo players nationwide and internationally. In 2010, Pete launched "The Wernick Method'' of banjo instruction, which is now teaching thousands to jam, and hosting bluegrass classes in 42 states, and 11 countries.

Pete was once voted top local instrumentalist by the Rock Mountain News, and In 2021 Pete was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. Hot Rize's album "Take It Home" received a grammy nomination in 1990.

He began playing the banjo as a teenager in New York City, studying Earl Scruggs records while completing a B.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at Columbia University. He played in local bands and hosted a bluegrass radio show in the 1960s. In the 1970s, while working at Cornell University as a sociologist, he started the County Cooking group which ushered in contemporary bluegrass we enjoy today.

In 1976 Pete moved to Colorado where he recorded Dr. Banjo Steps Out (Flying Fish) and soon after started Hot Rize, with Tim O'Brien, Charles Sawtelle, and Nick Forster. The foursome became a major attraction, and creative force in bluegrass, performing at the Grand Ole Opry in addition to many other venues. Sawtelle died in 1999 of leukemia, and Hot Rize reunions have included renowned guitarist Bryan Sutton.

Sunday, July 31, Hot Rize will be headlining the 50th Annual Rocky Grass Festival in Lyons, Colorado.