"Mountain music is in my blood." When 16-year-old Ettore says this, his meaning is as unique as his take on his beloved bluegrass: while born and raised in a blue -collar neighborhood in the suburbs of Charlotte, NC, his musical roots are a mash-up of mountain traditions, juxtaposing the high lonesome sound of his mother's native Tennessee Smoky Mountains with the Swiss-Italian folk music of his father's native Alps. His maternal grandfather gave him his first banjo at the age of 9, and by the time he was 10, he made his first public performance in MerleFest’s Acoustic Kids. At age 11, he won a songwriting contest with his song “Ragnarok.” He released his first album at age 15. Ettore’s style puts hard-driving bluegrass banjo back front-and-center, with fresh lyrics that speak to his generation -- influenced by his melting-pot 21st-century world, distilled through the imagination of a young man coming of age. “The only reason people my age don’t like Bluegrass is because they haven’t heard it yet” With the unrestrained youthful energy and prodigious musicianship of his band’s live shows, Ettore is at the forefront of young traditional musicians who are bound to make the newest generation fall in love with bluegrass.
