John Kruth is a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist best known for his highly energetic ?Banshee Mandolin? style of playing. He is also proficient on guitar, banjo, harmonica and various flutes. Kruth is co-founder and the main songwriter of New York-based world music ensemble TriBeCaStan, and also a music journalist and author. Kruth?s first biography, Bright Moments ? The Life and Legacy of Rahsaan Roland Kirk was first published in the U.S. and England in 2000 by Welcome Rain Books. Bright Moments was translated into Japanese and published by Kawade Shobo in 2005. His most recent biography is Rhapsody In Black - The Life and Music of Roy Orbison from Hal Leonard Books, NYC. He is also the author of To Live?s To Fly - the Ballad of Townes Van Zandt, was published by Da Capo Books in March 2007, winner of 2008 Deems Taylor ASCAP Award for Best Musical Biography. John has nine solo albums to his credit. His latest CD, Splitsville, was released in the fall of 2008 by Smiling Fez Records. In November 1997 Kruth performed at Carnegie Hall as a soloist for composer John Corigliano on the Moroccan folk oboe called the ghaita, commonly played by the Master Musicians of Jajouka. 

June 19th, 1955 in (Age 69)