Butch Baldassari
Jerome Henry "Butch" Baldassari was an American mandolinist, composer, and music
professor who played guitar in teenage rock bands prior to adopting the mandolin
at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1972. Baldassari performed with bluegrass
group Weary Hearts from 1986 to 1990, winning the Best Bluegrass Band Award from
SPBGMA in 1988. Baldassari established the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble in 1990
and played with Lonesome Standard Time from 1992 to 1998, contributing to the
Grammy-nominated album Lonesome River Band (1992) and the 1993 IBMA Song of the
Year "Lonesome Standard Tim...
