The popular and acclaimed NashCamp has announced their Music Camps for 2006, with three, week-long events during the summer, and a weekend banjo retreat in the fall.

First up is two weeks of bluegrass instruction, aptly named Bluegrass Weeks. Each of the two, one-week sessions feature well-known bluegrass performers as instructors, with a mix of small group instruction and band labs as the focus. Elective workshops are also offered in less technical, but equally crucial elements of learning and performing in the bluegrass genre.

The faculty for Bluegrass Weeks includes Ron Stewart, Missy Raines, Roland White, Fletcher Bright, David Harvey, Jim Hurst, Tim Scheerhorn and Greg Cahill.

Next comes Songwriting Week (July 30-August 4), with such heralded instructors as Carl Jackson, Tim Stafford and Claire Lynch among a faculty of ten successful country and bluegrass songwriters. Students will rotate through the various instructors for instruction and critique on the various aspects of the craft. Guest speakers will include reps from music publishing companies and songwriter rights organizations.

Lastly, they offer the Fall Banjo Retreat (October 20-22), an intensive 3 day weekend event with instructors Sonny Osborne, Ron Block, Alan Munde and Bill Evans.

All NashCamp workshops are open to players at any skill level. More details (costs, complete faculty lists, registration info, lodging and directions) can be found on the NashCamp site.