Hal Cottrell was born and raised playing music in West Virginia and now resides in New Lebanon, Ohio where he is a Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force. He has won many mandolin and guitar contests throughout the Midwest. In addition to his phenomenal instrumental work, Hal is also a fine song writer. Hal was nominated for SPBGMA 2004 Midwest Mandolin Performer of the Year and won the SPBGMA 2005 Midwest Mandolin Performer of the Year. He purchased his first mandolin at the age of three by earning pennies, nickels and dimes that the audience donated when he sang with his Dad’s bluegrass show. Hal started performing professionally at the age of 15 with Glen Smith and The Bluegrass Mountaineers. He also performed with Dave Evans and Riverbend, until diverted by his enlistment in the United States Air Force. Hal has performed on Iowa Public TV’s Old Time Country Music with Bill Grant & Delia Bell and more recently with Golden Harvest Bluegrass. When Kenny Baker and Josh Graves arrived at the Avoca Iowa music festival, they asked Hal to fill in with them on mandolin. Hal was the founding member of S & H Grass out of Lincoln, NE and Golden Harvest Bluegrass out of Omaha, NE. Both these bands performed at many local and regional festivals throughout the Midwest. He also performed periodically with local Omaha based bluegrass and old time cowboy music group Papio Creek. Most recently he performed with Possum Trot from Queen City Missouri. His work with them was recognized by the band receiving the SPBGMA 2005 Album of the Year. Possum Trot performed numerous times on the world renowned WSM Midnight Jamboree in Nashville Tennessee. Hal is a professional member of both the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music Association (SPBGMA) and International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). As a member of IBMA, he volunteered as Regional Representative for two years and graduated from the Leadership Bluegrass Class of 2004. Although still on active duty with the Air Force, he plans to retire in less than two years and pursue the music full time.