First Friday: Scott Topel

The newest addition to the Bernunzio Uptown Music staff, fingerstyle guitarist Scott Topel will be performing solo for July's first Friday! As per tradition, Windsor Folk Family will be closing out the night. Scott Topel grew up in Honeoye where he played in a Led Zeppelin cover band, playing fingerpicking, blues and folk guitar as well as classical. He studied guitar while attending FLCC, and earned a bachelors from UCSC in Santa Cruz, CA, graduating with high honors in guitar performance. After traveling and playing music in countries such as Scotland, India and Ecuador, Scott returned to the U.S. to attend the only fingerstyle guitar masters degree program in the world at UWM in Milwaukee. Here he studied guitar with John Stropes and attended master classes with Leo Kottke, Rene Izquierdo, Antoine Dufour and Andy Mckee. Scott plays 6 and 12 string acoustic and electric guitars, harp guitar, mandola and mandocello. most often a solo performer, he has lately been performing as a part of the band Axis Armada and the acoustic bluegrass/old time trio The Hammock District.