Biography

Brother is documentary filmmaker Sascha Paladino, who directed him in both the feature documentary, Throw Down Your Heart (2008) and the short documentary, Obstinato: Making Music for Two (2004). Attended New York City's High School for Music and Art. His first band was named "Wicker's Creek". His grandfather bought him his first banjo in 1973.
- IMDb mini biography by: ley-moon

Banjo player.

Brother of Sascha Paladino and Louie Fleck.

Brother-in-law of Erin Torneo.

When I was learning the banjo in New York City, Pete Seeger was great example of a 'New York City banjo player'. He was a lot more than a banjo player, he was a spokesman for a certain part of our society at that time. He was also a guy who believed in everybody getting together and using music as a 'wedge'. The music was a meeting point for people to discover how much they agreed on things. He also did very simple music. His message had to do with simplicity. Mine is probably the furthest from that.

What I like about the fact that it's everywhere right now is that the stigma factor has faded away. People might chuckle a bit about the idea of the banjo, but they also take it seriously. So when you think, 'Why are all these people that are more main-stream putting the banjo in their music?', it's because it has a sound of authenticity.

[on the banjo as the 'flavour du jour'] I like it when it's good and I don't like it when it's bad. To me it doesn't feel like success to have crappy banjo on a crappy song. Just because it's widespread doesn't mean it's good. But there's a lot of real good playing going on, and that I find even more exciting.