Mark Panfil profile picture

Mark Panfil

About Me

Born and raised in Lackawanna, NY (a steel mill town, south of Buffalo), Mark began playing harmonica at age eight. He played songs on his Marine Band that he'd heard on local radio by ear, the way his dad taught him to. He began playing five string banjo at 15 and soon after that formed a local bluegrass group with his brother, Chris called, the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. When high school finished, he decided to make music his career by pursuing a degree in Music Education with piano as his primary instrument. After graduationg with his BA in Music, he went to work for Young Audiences of Western New York doing school concerts. In college, he began playing chromatic harmonica and added sight-reading music to his harmonica skills.His first Dobro was bought in the early 80's and he soon joined Creek Bend as their Dobro player. He still plays with them and they have two CD's available on the Copper Creek record label from Roanoke, VA.

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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 18/10/2007
Band Website: WWW.BuffaloBluegrass.com
Band Members: My playing schedule is always available by going to BuffaloBluegrass.com and looking for the dates highlighted in GOLD in the Calender.Hope to see soon at a workshop or show. Mark
Influences: Jerry Douglas, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Pete Seeger, Mike Auldridge, Sally Van Meter, Jim Heffernon, Gene Panfil, Ted Lambert, Murphy Henry, Bob Schnieder, Toots Thielman, Larry Adler, Charlie McCoy, PT Gazelle, Ivar Mikashov, Jimmy Fadden, Chris Panfil and Willie Nelson
Sounds Like: Check my blogs on the right for my schedule of where I'm playing lately. Thanks.
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Do Not Send Money, I'm home and fine

My email was hacked and they changed my password. I can't get into it to tell people it is a hoax. Thanks for telling me. I've been getting calls all day. I am fine, at home and quite worried about ...
Posted by on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:59:00 GMT

Co-authored a book on Dobro Jamming

Last time I was in Elkins WV at the Augusta Heritage Workshops, I jammed with an excellent banjo player named Carl Yaffey. Afterwords, Carl told me about several books that he had written and co-writt...
Posted by on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:07:00 GMT

World Harmonica Video Contest

So last year I got an email from Bill Knowlton telling me about a harmonica player from Rochester winning a Harmonica contest last summer at Uncle Dave Macon days. I did a search for harmonica contest...
Posted by on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:51:00 GMT

MY LATEST LIST OF UPCOMING SHOWS

I will be performing at these shows this year.        www.CreekBendBand.com ...
Posted by on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:58:00 GMT

Jamming tips for dobro

The following is an excerpt for Jamming on the dobro by Mark Panfil and Carl Yaffey, Mel Bay Publications..................... ANATOMY OF A JAM SESSION.... .. .. A jam session is an inf...
Posted by on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:48:00 GMT

Christmas Blog 2009

So it's been a great year and Christmas is here again. I had a chance to meet a lot of new friends and touch base and jam with some very dear old friends this year. My wife, Cheryl and I attended the ...
Posted by on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:26:00 GMT

Christmas Dobro thoughts

Well, it's getting a little cold up here in Buffalo this December but time spent with loved ones shopping and singing carols is making it "the most wonderful time of the year".  My days are full ...
Posted by on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:19:00 GMT

Practice tips

Hello to the happy, hungry readers that may be looking for some ways to cope with practice. I'd love to offer some tips that I've collected over the last forty years of banjo, dobro, piano and harmoni...
Posted by on Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:04:00 GMT