The Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) International Band Championship is notorious for showcasing some of the world’s best up-and-coming acts. Past competitors have included several acts who ended up with major recording contracts: Brand New Strings, Mountain Faith, Flatt Lonesome, Blue Mafia, and High Fidelity, among others. The recent 2026 International Band Championships winner was Strings of Green, a family band from Beckley, West Virginia.
While it’s not surprising that a family band competed, or that it finished well, it is extremely surprising to know two members of the band were preteens at the time of their recent win. The band is composed of Ezekiel, who turns 13 today, Saturday, January 31 (mandolin); Ezra, 11 (bass); Josiah, 18 (guitar/percussion); and their father, Brandon Green, on banjo.
I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Brandon. He shared that the idea to play as a family band originally began in church about five years ago. While attending a church with a large congregation, they were led to help provide music for services at a much smaller offshoot from their home church. “We would learn six or seven songs per week, old hymns and worship music. We would practice for each service and play at church,” he says.
However, Brandon says that as other opportunities arose, they began taking them. This led to performances at places like country markets, restaurants, and other local venues. As the band became regulars at places in East Tennessee, where they were living at the time, their repertoire grew.
Brandon says he and the boys started talking about participating in the SPBGMA contest while attending the Walnut Valley Festival in Kansas last September. Although Josiah had been playing guitar for a couple of years, he mostly played drums in the band up until the last few months. As of September, Ezra mostly played uke-bass, too. Brandon joked about telling Ezra to get out the upright and build up some calluses in preparation for the contest. He also said Josiah had only been playing bluegrass style rhythm guitar for a very short while.
The Greens are no strangers to music competitions. In 2025, Ezekiel placed second in the Youth Mandolin Contest at the Old Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, Virginia, and won top mandolin spot at the Vandalia Gathering in West Virginia. At the 2025 Southeast Bluegrass Banjo Championships in Manchester, Tennessee, the Green boys won or placed in every category except fiddle. Brandon won top spots in banjo, guitar, and dobro, Ezekiel won the mandolin contest, and Ezra took home a second place award in the 14-and-under category for his bass playing.
Though he’s now focused on his family group, Brandon is a two-time winner (2014, 2024) of the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship that takes place at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, and has won or placed at several other major competitions. He has toured with acts like the Abrams Brothers, the Darrell Webb Band, and Jonathan Buckner & Chosen Road. He also worked as a faculty member in Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies at East Tennessee State University for more than 10 years. While in that role he taught band classes, music theory related courses, and music lessons on multiple instruments, among other duties.
Despite the growing collection of medals and ribbons in the Green household, Brandon says he and the boys were still shocked to earn first place at SPBGMA. He says his sons hadn’t really understood what an impressive feat the win was, and they are still a bit in disbelief a week later. While they aren’t planning on any international tours just yet, they are promoting a new single, released earlier this month, and are booking shows both around their home base in West Virginia, and those requiring travel.
Brandon is an extraordinary musician, and it’s no surprise that his kids are following in his footsteps. With two more young Greens (Malachi, 8; and Moriah, 6) at home ready to join the band any day, we’re sure to be hearing plenty from Strings of Green in the future.
You can also keep up with Brandon and his music on his Patreon site, where he offers banjo lessons online.
