In Bridgeton, N.J., 7-year-old Dan Boner sat down with his great uncle Larry and began taking guitar lessons. The two met weekly to go over the basics of guitar and bluegrass.
During one of his guitar lessons with great uncle Larry, Boner recalls having a very difficult time playing an F chord. “One of the hardest chords to play on the guitar is the F chord,” Boner said.
“He said, ‘Well if you can’t get the F chord, there’s no point of going on … If you can’t do that, then we might as well quit now,’ ” Boner said. “I wanted to play so much, that the next week I worked hard and learned the F chord. And I could play it really well.”
Larry was the pastor of Boner’s church growing up, and Boner played in church with him Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings and nights. “He played guitar and I played guitar right next to him,” Boner said.
Between services, Boner said he learned about a country and Southern gospel group within the church called the Shining Lights. Soon Boner was one of the Shining Lights and performed with the group for two years.
In addition to his lessons with Uncle Larry, Boner said he took lessons in banjo and fiddle and taught himself mandolin to add to his versatility.
The lessons paid off, because next the young musician became a member in a bluegrass group called the Strings of Gospel, a touring band that he performed with for six years, Boner said, playing guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin.
When it was time for Boner to graduate high school and start searching for colleges, an English teacher told him about ETSU, the only four-year university that offers a degree in Bluegrass Old Time Country Music.
“I wanted to do something with music,” said Boner, who was in the high school marching band and choir. “I decided to look it up on the Internet, and it was pretty interesting, I thought.”
So Boner sent his only college application to ETSU and was accepted. As a freshman, Boner followed his bluegrass roots and became a member of the ETSU Bluegrass Pride Band. “It took us a semester to get it together,” said J.P. Mathes, the banjo player in the band. “The band wasn’t that big of a deal back then.”
The second semester, Boner said, is when the band really came together. “We had a really good group with great personalities,” he said. “That was when we first decided to record a CD.”
Boner and Mathes have been in the ETSU Bluegrass Pride Band the longest of all its current members. Boner is in his sixth year with the band, and Mathes is a graduate student in his ninth year. They have traveled across Appalachia and to Washington, D.C. for the Smithsonian National Folk Life Festival, as well as traveling around the world, performing in Japan and Belgium.
The Japan trip in 2001, Mathes said, started a momentum that has propelled the band ever since. “We probably play 50-60 shows a year,” Boner said. “In just two weeks, we traveled over 2,000 miles.”
The Pride Band plays at events including private parties, fundraising efforts, community fairs and bluegrass and musical festivals. In these shows the band plays a variety of fiddle, gospel and country tunes, including songs that Boner has written. “I began writing at the end of middle school,” Boner said.
Since then, Boner has written five or six songs, he said, which are either about his life, or about putting himself in someone else’s shoes. “In a good song there’s something about it,” Boner said. “Whether it’s the melody or the harmony or the lyrics, there’s just something that attracts you to it and you know you want to do it.”
Boner, now in his sixth year with the band, said his favorite aspect of playing with the band is the team effort toward a common goal. “The people in the group always help the other people sound good,” Boner said. “We have a lot of fun on stage, and it’s not made up.”
Boner plans to graduate this year, and since ETSU does not have a graduate program in music, this may be his last year in the band. “It’s sad,” he said. “But I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve been here. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Upon graduating, Boner will have a vocal music education degree. He would like to teach music, he said. At the same time, he looks forward to having summers off to tour. “I’ll definitely be in another band,” Boner said. “I don’t know which one right now.”
Boner is not exactly sure where he will go from here, however thanks to the guidance of great uncle Larry, he knows music will be in his future.

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