Suwannee Banjo Camp Director

Ken Perlman

Ken Perlman has been a director of SBC since its inception in 2003. He has also directed several music-teaching festivals, including American Banjo Camp, Banjo Camp North, Bath Banjo Festival, Maryland Banjo Academy, Midwest Banjo Camp, Northeast Heritage Music Camp and Suwannee Banjo Camp. He is also on the teaching staff for SBC. You can find a more detailed biography for him among the instructor and accompanist bios, and on his website kenperlman.com.

Honorary Directors

Stan Werbin

Stan Werbin joined the SBC director team when SBC went online for the 2021 season. He best known as the founding owner of Elderly Instruments, the world-renowned music store and mail-order service in Lansing, Michigan, just 30 miles north or the Olivet College campus. He is also internationally known as an authority on vintage banjos and other fretted instruments. In the late ’70s, he performed and recorded on banjo, guitar, and uke with Michigan’s Lost World String Band. He served as a booking agent in the early years of East Lansing’s Ten Pound Fiddle coffeehouse, and in recent years he has been on the music selection committee for both the National Folk Festival and the Great Lakes Folk Festival. He and Ken co-direct Midwest Banjo Camp in Olivet MI.

Lily Werbin

Lily Werbin joined the SBC director team when SBC went online for the 2021 season. She is now the President of Elderly Instruments, her family’s business, in Lansing, Michigan. Lily is passionate about building communities by using communication and music to bridge social gaps. Through working with local and national boards such as the Old Town Commercial Association, Decolonizing the Music Room, and Bluegrass Pride, Lillian has learned the importance of creating and maintaining inclusionary spaces and using our differences to forge a deeper connection to one another. She is a member of the Arnold Shultz Advisory committee, is the Event Coordinator for Midwest Banjo Camp and helps organize such other events as the Banjo Gathering (formally the Banjo Collectors Gathering), the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival, the Safe Venue Directory Project, and Midwest Ukulele Camp,