Kate began playing violin by the age of eight. She taught herself to play saxophone and later studied with local jazz legend, David Schiavone. In high school she expanded her horizons adding viola, mandolin and pennywhistle. Thoughout her years, singing remained a passion for her and still does. She has studied mandolin with Andy Cushing, Barry Mitterhof and Butch Baldassari. She has studied viola with Valerie Heywood ,principal viola for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Katie was accepted to study at the prestigious Crane School of Music on voice and viola where she earned her Bachelors of Music Education in 2007. She now teaches in the West Seneca Central School District in New York State. She also plays with her family in the Panfils and is the lead singer and fiddler in her own band, the New Erie Lackawanna Railroad
Chris Panfil 's interest in bluegrass music can be traced back to his early teens when his brother Mark needed a mandolin accompanist for his Earl Scruugs/ Pete Seeger banjo habit. The boys played Flatt and Scruggs tunes on the porch for hours at a time, much to the consternation of thier northeastern steeltown neighbors who occassionally stopped by to listen and eventually ask "do you know any real songs on those things?". They eventually converted several neighborhood boys to this "southern soul" and amazed many of thier high school friends with thier inability (or desire) to play Led Zepplin or Black Sabbath. This first band was "The Erie Lackawanna RR" and they played western new york blugerass festivals (OK, festival), clubs (ask the about the King Edward strip club), special events and church functions.
Chris moved to Florida after high school to play fiddle with the suncoast bluegrass band "Bluegrass Souithern Style" in the 1980's . This resulted in an album and several tours including Europe and the Carribean. An old banjo player friend from Buffalo moved to Florida and they formed the infamous "Sleepless Nites". A newgrass (this is the '80's, remember) group in the deep south consisting of 3 yankees and fortunately a crack(er) guiter player from Silver Point, Tenn. This group toured the southeast and recorded "Live at the Garden" in 1985.
Moving back to his native Buffalo just in time for the country music boom of the 1990's Chris joined the "J.C. Thompson Band", a popular country rock cover band in Western New York State. He played fiddle, harmonica, mandolin and guitar. Yes, he finally bought a Fender Telecaster along with every other bluegrass musician in the '90's. The country music boom soon led him to move to Nashville Tenn. where he found ample work as a touring and recording multi-instrumentalist. He played with many Grand Old Opry stars such as Jeanne Sealy, Del Reeves and Sheb Wooley. He also recoreded many demo sessions and performed in the house band at the "Stagecoach" lounge, a popular musicians hangout in Nashville.
As Chris and his wife planned on starting a family it seemed clear that life on the road would not be the best choice to raise a family he decided to exercise his option apply his Bachelors in Education and begin teaching. He moved back to Buffalo to teach. He joined up with a long time western New York bluegrass favorite named "Creek Bend" to perform and play the northeastern US festival circuit and record. Chris took a break from "Creek Bend" to play with long time friend and Hall of Fame fiddler, Phil Banaczak and his wife in "Ciity Fiddle". Phil writes volumes of "neo traditional fiddle tunes" and encouraged Chris to perform many of the songs Chris wrote over the years. This sparked a desire to write, perform and record original bluegrass music. It fullfills a dream and satisfies a long held desire to try to contribute in a small way to the great tapestry that is american folk music.
Over the years Chris has been a sought after session musician because of his multi-intstrunetal talent and wide range of stylistic approach. He has been fortunate to record for Ani DiFranco, Mike Meldrum, Bob Evans, Tom Carle and more. The new project, The Panfils, is a wonderful oppoutunity to play with his very talented niece, nephew and brother (and more Panfil's to come) while providing high quality, original, heartfelt bluegrass/ folk music.
Scott began playing piano and violin as a child of five. He played violin and timpani through high school. During these years he also studied fiddle with Fletcher Bright and Brian Wicklund and bass with Missy Raines. At the University of New York at Fredonia where he majored in voice, he was the lead singer and front man for Kashmir, a classic rock group built around the vocal icons of the eighties and nineties. After finishing a Bachlors of Music in Music Education, he has led high school choirs and now teaches classroom and vocal music in Hamburg, NY. He adds a crystal clear tenor and a rock solid bass guitar element to the Panfils.
Born and raised in Lackawanna, NY (a steel mill town, south of Buffalo), Mark began playing harmonica at age eight. He played songs on his Marine Band that he'd heard on local radio by ear, the way his dad taught him to. He began playing five string banjo at 15 and soon after that formed a local bluegrass group with his brother, Chris called, the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. When high school finished, he decided to make music his career by pursuing a degree in Music Education with piano as his primary instrument. After graduationg with his BA in Music, he went to work for Young Audiences of Western New York doing school concerts. In college, he began playing chromatic harmonica and added sight-reading music to his harmonica skills.
His first Dobro was bought in the early 80's and he soon joined Creek Bend as their Dobro player. He still plays with them and they have two CD's available on the Copper Creek record label from Roanoke, VA.
A major crossroads in his musical life took place in the 1991, While attending the Augusta Workshops in Elkins, WV new roads opened up as a student and later assistant instructor for Jerry Douglas. Around the same time, Howard Levy (the jazz harmonica giant) was also teaching at Augusta and through contact with him and his students, Mark began bending harmonica notes up in addtion to down in the Levy style. Since then, Mark has been on the teaching staff for bluegrass Dobro to this day and has taught scores of students from all over the world. In 2001, he recorded an instructional video tape for the Murphy Method that has been used all over the world to teach countless resonator guitar players to play their first songs.
Through the Augusta Workshops and later the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, he has had the opportunity to learn from and perform with many of the top names in Bluegrass today.
Jerry Douglas, Sally Van Meter, Jim Heffernan, Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum, Dudley Connell, Mac Wiseman, Tony Trishka, Jim Hurst and Missy Raines, and Bryan Sutton to name a few.
He has recorded with numerous local performers and prestigious choirs on harmonica, resonator guitar and banjo including the Grammy nominated, Western New York Children's Chorus.
Mark teaches music in Hamburg, NY at Pinehurst Elementary School and is a co-director of the Frontier Fiddlers club.
He is a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association and serves as a member of the "Bluegrass in our Schools" committee.
