Ben Prior - Treasurer

Ben Prior is a proud native of the state of Wyoming. After playing the violin for three years, Ben switched to the 'cello out of pure spite at the ripe old age of fifteen. Ben continued to study classical 'cello for eight years until he ran away from home and joined the circus, where he was a featured freak in the Ten-in-One. After a twelve year absence from playing a musical instrument, Ben once again picked up his 'cello and began to scratch upon it, this time with an interest in folk music. Ben’s style of playing the ‘cello is probably illegal in at least 38 states. With regards to his instrument, Ben says, "I took that staid old gentleman of the orchestra, cut off his bow tie, gave him a bottle of whiskey, and set him loose in a honky-tonk. Let's watch and see what happens next!”

Ben has been Treasurer of the Southwest Traditional and Bluegrass Music Association since October 2007. He is also the current webmaster of SouthwestPickers.org. Ben has been a database programmer since 1998, when he was a data entry clerk. He was using a database part ordering system, when he discovered an error that opened up the system developer's code library. Ben taught himself to program by writing a subroutine to handle the error he kept making!