Union, SC native and Boiling Springs resident, Kristin Scott Benson is a multi-time International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year, winner of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo, and member of the American Banjo Hall of Fame. Since 2008, she has been a member of Grammy-nominated and two-time IBMA Entertainers of the Year, The Grascals.

Many consider Benson to be one of the first female virtuosos to successfully join a top-tiered bluegrass band. As Larry Nager wrote in Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine in 2010,

“There was one grass ceiling no woman could cut through—until Kristin Scott Benson came along, that is. Almost two years ago, she joined The Grascals. Not to front the band, not to sing, not to be eye candy, but instead to drive the group with her five-string banjo. Until then, no woman had ever been hired to play one of the most defining of the bluegrass instruments in an A-list, festival-headlining, all-male band…. It’s a high-profile gig, as Kristin takes the banjo where no woman has taken it before.”

Benson’s career with The Grascals has included national television shows, performances for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and over 200 appearances on The Grand Ole Opry.