Inducted 2025

  Mark Kreitzer began playing music in kindergarten, taking piano lessons, though it could be said that having two musicians for parents, music was always part of his life. His two older brothers played folk music, which gave him opportunities to “borrow” their guitars when they were out of the house to teach himself Beatles songs. At O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he performed with the liturgical music group. It was there that he met fellow students who played blues, Appalachian old-time, bluegrass & acoustic rock, and equally important, wrote their own songs. Mark played fiddle on Country-Rock legends The Red Willow Band’s self-titled album in 1976.

  After moving to Madison, Wisconsin, Mark added jazz to his interests, playing with other musicians who had come through the acoustic bluegrass world and discovered guitarist Django Reinhart and mandolinist Jacob do Bandolim. Kreitzer was also a Board Member and President of the Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association.

  Mark eventually made it to Minneapolis, where he joined The Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association (MBOTMA), again serving on the board and as President. A few years later, MBOTMA presented Mark, who is proficient on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, dobro, and almost anything else with strings, with its first Favorite Bluegrass Multi-Instrumentalist Award. The organization also presented him with its first Favorite Bluegrass Songwriter Award. As a member of The Middle Spunk Creek Boys, he was inducted into The Minnesota Rock and Country Hall of Fame.

  Mark was honored to write the music and lyrics for The Minnesota Centennial Showboat musical Mark Twain’s Mississippi, based on Twain’s book Life on the Mississippi. Laurie Lewis captures Mark’s writing with a simple statement: “This fellow has something to say.” In addition to The Middle Spunk Creek Boys, Mark has performed with several other bands including Clearwater Hot Club, Mill City Hot Club, The Southside Aces, Cafe Accordion Orchestra, The High 48s, with Becky Schlegel and many more. Mark also leads his own band, aptly named The Mark Kreitzer Band, and plays solo gigs.

  Mark is a music educator as well, having taught Guitar and Songwriting at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, and Guitar and American Folk Instruments at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He is also a member of the O’Gorman High School Hall of Fame for Achievements in the Arts.

Mark’s website

Inducted 2023

Becky Buller is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter originally from St. James, Minnesota who travels the globe performing bluegrass music to underwrite her insatiable songwriting habit. Her compositions can be heard on recordings by Ricky Skaggs, Rhonda Vincent, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Mark Newton, David Parmley and Continental Divide, The Kenny and Amanda Smith Band; IIIrd Tyme Out, and Valerie Smth & Liberty Pike. While growing up, her fiddle playing was featured at the annual Threshing Bee in Butterfield, Minnesota during the Summer. Currently, Becky lives with her husband and daughter in Manchester, Tennessee. She studied Public Relations at East Tennessee University, where she was involved in The Bluegrass and Country Music Program, graduating in 2001. Equally passionate about bluegrass music education, Becky has 20 years experience teaching fiddle, singing, and songwriting at workshops and camps around the world. In 2000, she released Rest My Weary Feet, a self-produced solo album for SRS Records. Becky was awarded first place in the bluegrass division of the 2001 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. In 2016, Becky was the first woman to win an International Bluegrass Music Award (IBMA) for Fiddle Player of the Year, as well as the first artist to win IBMA awards in both the vocal and instrumental categories in the same year. Buller is the recipient of 10 IBMA awards, including the 2020 Song of the Year for “Chicago Barn Dance” (co-written with Missy Raines and Alison Brown), 2020 Collaborative Recording for song “The Barber’s Fiddle”, and the 2018 Gospel Recorded Performance for the song “Speakin’ to That Mountain”. Becky tours extensively with The Becky Buller Band and has released three albums on the Dark Shadow Recording label, including Distance and Time, which was a nominee for the 2021 IMBA Album of the Year. Becky has served as a member of the Board of Directors for The International Bluegrass Music Association between 2013 and 2017, and was Chairperson of the IBMA Songwriter’s Committee from 2013 to 2016. In addition to her performing, she also finds time to teach fiddle, bluegrass vocal, and songwriting via online classes through Skype and Facetime, as well as one-on-one in Manchester. As of 2024, Becky has appeared twice at country music’s most prestigious of venues & broadcasts: The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

Becky Buller’s website

(1947- )

Inducted 2010

Dick Kimmel has been called “The Ambassador of Bluegrass” and has been associated with traditional bluegrass and old-time country music since 1970. Dick was born in Illinois to a musical family and by the time he was eight years old he was playing old country duets with his brother Charles. His brother taught him to play guitar and banjo with Dick eventually becoming a vocalist and master of the mandolin as well. In 1961 at the age of 14, he formed his first bluegrass band called The Bluegrass Ramblers. Kimmel eventually settled in New Ulm, Minnesota and performed throughout North America and Europe sharing the stage with artists including Del McCoury, Hazel Dickens, Dwight Diller, toured Europe six times as a solo performer, with his band Dick Kimmel & Co., and as a duo with Adam Granger. As a recording artist and songwriter, Dick released more than two dozen recordings made over 50 years, many on the prestigious Copper Creek label, based in Roanoke, Virgina. Dick Kimmel & Co.’s gospel CD entitled My Lord Keeps a Record received excellent reviews from the international media and earned a nomination for Gospel Recorded Performance of The Year 2005 by The International Bluegrass Music Association. Dick and Jerilyn Kjellberg performed together as a duo and sometimes together with Dick Kimmel & Co. In April 2007 they released the duo album Somebody Loves You, Darlin’. Al Schusterman of Backroads Bluegrass publication wrote “Wow! The impact of this extraordinary CD just takes your breath away!” Dick has retired as a Wildlife Research Biologist for The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Dick Kimmel’s website

Inducted 2005

Ron grew up in Alexandria, Minnesota and spent much of his time in Fargo while his father’s band performed at the Fargo Ballroom. Ron moved to San Francisco in the 1960s and was influenced by folk music and purchased his first banjo. After a three-year stint in the U.S. Army, Ron moved to Minneapolis and founded or co-founded seven different bluegrass bands. In 1973 and 1974, Ron hosted a three-day Bluegrass Festival on a 40-acre farm in Eagan. With the popularity of bluegrass music, Ron and Bob Loy decided to start a bluegrass publication with membership in a club or association. Eventually, the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old Time Music Association mailing list was born. Rob continued to write a monthly column for the magazine for many years. Ron still performs with The Platte Valley Boys bluegrass band, formed in 1975.