Nothing gives us greater pleasure at Bluegrass Today than introducing talented young musicians, who demonstrate tremendous ability at a tender age.
Everyone swoons when Kody Norris introduces his banjo picker, Jim Hensley, touring and recording as a professional musician at just 14 years old. Not to mention Wyatt Ellis, already a seasoned recording artist on mandolin at age 16. Plus the Alaskan Sunnyside Sisters, making waves on the festival scene with two teen and two pre-teen performers.
They seem to be everywhere, advanced players at extremely young ages, and with a maturity and skill more commonly found after many more years of experience. Certainly the internet helps, with the opportunity to find, hear, and see great music on a computer or phone. But it also takes dedicated parents, willing to make the necessary sacrifices of time and treasure to help them along the way. Lessons and instruments are not cheap, nor the travel to get them to festivals or shows where they can experience the music live.
We’ve just become aware of another fine young picker, 11-year-old Emil Wilhelm, originally from Michigan, and now living in Jacksonville, Florida. He has the advantage of a dad who’s a professional musician, Eric Wilhelm, a drummer, who started his son on the drums at only one year old! Emil continued to learn and progress on his drums, until he discovered bluegrass music at age nine, and asked his parents for a banjo at Christmas.
This was while the family still lived in Michigan, and his grandparents found him a banjo. Listening to bluegrass every day on Bluegrass Junction, he quickly picked it up, to such a degree that after a year and a half, he managed to impress former Blue Grass Boy Dana Cupp at a jam during the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival.
Emil says that the sound of the banjo grabbed him right away.
“When I first heard the banjo on the radio, I thought, ‘let’s get me one!’
What I love about it are the five strings and the gnarly sound of it.”
To this point Emil had been completely self-taught, though he found his first teachers when the Wilhelms moved to Florida in 2025 with Michael Godwin and Steve Leonard. Both have taken him under their wings, as has Doug McKelway, a talented banjo player and newsman we have covered here a number of times. Doug not only encouraged Emil since they met, he also arranged to sell one of his banjos to help him step up to a higher quality instrument.
“I remember selling a really good Gold Star banjo I owned to Emil’s mom and dad. They were holding on to it for him for a surprise birthday present. He had a few good players sign the head, and he fretted about marking up Doug’s banjo that he thought he was only ‘borrowing.’ Then, they sprung the news on him that it was now his!
Since then, he has improved markedly. He gets the nuances of Scruggs style, the little pull-offs, hammer-ons, and the right way to play that stuff. If he keeps up at his present rate, he’s gonna be a first-rate player!”
Godwin and Leonard, and McKelway as well, commonly invite Emil up on stage when they perform, and audiences all along the eastern Florida coast have marveled at his ability, and his composure on stage, both playing his banjo and singing.
He even has his own fans who look forward seeing him play. His mom, Leila, shared some of the places people can see him play.
“Over the past year, Emil has been playing at the Beaches Green Market in Jacksonville Beach on Saturday mornings, and at the Sandpiper Fiddle Fest performances directed by Linda Minke (who has taught Emil fiddle) in Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach. His upcoming stage gigs include Amplified Avondale on March 27 and Central Florida Bluegrass Association’s Expo on April 18 in Eustis, FL.”
Mom also says that Emil generally stands out as the only child at the jams.
John Parrish, President of the Central Florida Bluegrass Association, described the scene at a recent event.
“We had a pretty good jam going at the Palatka Bluegrass Festival when Emil jumped out of his parents’ car with his banjo case. It’s always great to see youngsters picking, and what struck me was his confidence – jumping right in on a break and even singing some.
He’s going to be a monster if he sticks with it!”
Outside of music, Emil also loves baseball, biking, and spending time at the beach. Much of his time is given over to local jams, like those at the Bluejay Listening Room or the Silver Cow, and getting out to as many festivals as his folks can take him to. This past weekend he attended the Suwanee Banjo Camp, studying with Alan Munde and Greg Cahill.
This young man seems to be well on his way to becoming a fine banjo picker, and we understand that his younger brother, Andreas, is coming along on the mandolin as well.
Be on the lookout for the Wilhelm Brothers in a few years time!
