The Paint Branch Ramblers play ragged-but-right old time, bluegrass, and jug music. They hail from Prince George’s County, Maryland where they have been playing together in one form or another since the Spring of 2007. A surprising number of the Ramblers are entomologists or ento-curious.

At 24 years of age, Brittni Paiva (pie –VAH) winner of numerous awards such as Most Promising Artist in the Na Hoku Hanohano Awards and Hawaii Music Award’s Best Instrumental Album of the Year, she is known for her stunning articulation and filtering many styles of music through her 4-string ukulele.

I grew up singing the songs I learned from my grandmother in Northeast Texas. I began playing the songs of the rural South on ukulele at age 11. When I was 16 my mother saved up all her Green Stamps and ordered a Kay banjo for me which I quickly re-tuned to sound like a ukulele. I worked my way through college playing and teaching music. In 1971, I moved to Austin and had a chance to play at the Checquered Flag with some of the great Texas songwriters like Alan Damron, Rusty Weir, and Shake Russell.

After playing fingerstyle and rock guitar for about 30 years--with a brief banjo foray taken in the early 1980s--I discovered the uke in June 2005. Now I pretty much only play the uke. Primarily am interested in emulating or creating solo instrumental versions of songs I like and sometime I even work out songs I don’t really like. Also am very much inspired by the technical virtuousity of Jake and James and other killer progressive uke players.