Pete Wernick launched his recording career in 1971 as a participant in the instrumental ensemble Country Cooking. Prior to the close of the 1970s he assembled the progressive bluegrass ensemble Hot Rize. He later issued solo projects, among them the 1993 Sugar Hill album On a Roll, which yielded the hit single “Ruthie.” Beyond his own releases and stage appearances, the musician known as “Dr. Banjo” presided over the International Bluegrass Music Association. He also composes material, offers banjo instruction, and produces written works.
Wernick’s fascination with the banjo began in adolescence through close study of Earl Scruggs’s technique. While completing a doctorate in sociology at Columbia University in New York City, he maintained musical activity by performing with area groups and hosting a regional radio program rooted in bluegrass during the 1960s. After graduation he relocated to Ithaca and joined the sociology faculty at Cornell University, where he established Country Cooking. In the mid-1970s he moved to Colorado and recorded the Flying Fish album Dr. Banjo Steps Out. Shortly thereafter he organized Hot Rize, whose lineup featured Nick Forster, Charles Sawtelle, and Tim O’Brien; the band reached the top of the bluegrass chart with Wernick’s composition “Just Like You.”
In 1990 the International Bluegrass Music Association named Hot Rize Entertainer of the Year. Following the group’s 1990 disbandment, Wernick collaborated on stage and in the studio with Chris Thile, Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, and Jeff White. His ensemble the Live Five, which blends Dixieland and bluegrass, made its debut on On a Roll. He also appears as half of the duo Dr. & Nurse Banjo alongside his wife, guitarist and vocalist Joan Wernick. Among his instructional publications are How to Make a Band Work and the Bluegrass Songbook.
