Raised by wolves, taught by squirrels, friend of the owl- Matthew Wilburn Skinner sings songs of happiness and sorrow. As one-third of the band Tallgrass, he did his part to expand the possibilities of the banjo beyond a bluegrass instrument. "I used to just try and play really fast," he admits. "Which was a challenge, but then I realized you can't move the soul with that many notes, heh. Just the feet." He still plays fast sometimes, "I can't help it, haha, it's fun," but it seems to have moved beyond a sport for him. His Delta blues/jazz fingerstyle on the acoustic guitar is also crazy unique, with flourishes of virtuosity in between vocals that will break your heart before lovingly putting it back together again. Starting out in Iowa City more than 15 years ago, he honed his craft as a player and a sound engineer before moving to Fort Collins, Colorado in 2013.