I was born in 1966 and started playing banjo at age 13. Three years later I attended a banjo workshop with Bill Keith. This opened my musical eyes and ears. Bill and I would become close friends for the next 30+ years as we would meet frequently on both sides of the Atlantic and never missed a chance to play twin banjos together.

Since 1991, I have played banjo with the band Rawhide, one of Europe's oldest and most reknowned/innovative bluegrass bands.

In 2001 I started the band The Sons of Navarone in which I play the mandolin. We won the La Roche band competition in 2012 and the Audience popularity award at EWOB 2016. Since our guitar player Yves Aerts tragically deceased in april 2021, the band has been inactive.

And more recently, in 2017, Signe Borch from Denmark and I created a bluegrass duo called Table for Two, in which I play banjo and mandolin. Signe plays guitar and mandolin. We especially concentrate on vocal harmonies and have loads of mandolin duets.

These bands have played all over Europe.

For several years I have been thinking about making this website to teach what I know about Bill Keith's banjo style. I finally took the time and launched it on November 1st 2024.

I am available for workshops demonstrating and explaining this style worldwide.

Thierry Schoysman
Belgium
email: thierry.schoysman[at]telenet.be