By Laura Giovanelli | Winston Salem Journal 
Published: November 19, 2009
The Turbo Pro Project is a band based in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. And yes, it’s headed by a banjo-wielding front man, Adrian Trbovich.
- Link to Turbo Pro Project website
But this is not another bluegrass group, conjuring old, hard times with fierce picking and close harmonies. No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you — that’s a real turntable in that picture.
“That’s what this band is all about — finding people who aren’t afraid to think outside the box,” Trbovich (pronounced TUR-buh-vitch) said. “We’ve had other people sit in with us. We’re not closed to any possibility, really. It could be a kazoo player if that was their chosen instrument and they get down with the idea.”
Raised in a family of musicians who favored Americana, blues and rock in western Pennsylvania, Trbovich picked up the banjo in his early 20s (he already played piano). His dad listened to NPR, Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson, but growing up in the ’80s, Trbovich was touched by such rap pioneers as Run DMC and Eric B & Rakim.
There was a time when all this started to make sense, to come together, a day that Trbovich can’t quite pinpoint now, a time when he took out his banjo and started fooling around with a drum machine. There was something about the combination, however unlikely, that appealed to him.
