Gina Britt: Growing Into Bluegrass, Banjo and Sister Sadie

Maybe it was prophetic that Gena Britt grew up in the dance halls of Star, North Carolina. It’s where the bluegrass star, known for her powerful banjo playing, solid bass playing, and powerhouse vocals, fell in love with bluegrass music at an early age. “My grandfather was a square dance caller, and he was busy somewhere every weekend. That was my introduction to string music.” By the age of five, she had learned to clog and participated in clogging competitions. At the age of seven, she performed on a local television program in Raleigh. “The show’s host asked what I wanted for Christmas,” recalls Gena. “I told him I wanted a banjo.”

It was another year before Gena got her banjo, and soon after, she started taking lessons from Charles Singleton. “Dad took me to his house once a week, and he showed me a lot of things, but ultimately I learned to play by ear. I listened to cassette tapes and practiced playing what I heard. Nowadays, kids pull up videos on YouTube. I only wish I had that growing up.”

Gena began playing professionally at an early age. As a teenager, she picked up the bass. “I met Andrea Roberts, I believe, at a bluegrass festival in South Carolina, and she was in the band Petticoat Junction. We jammed together, and they needed a bass player, and that’s how I started my career.” Gena played with the group for a couple of years. “I learned a lot from that experience. It was a good education on the music business for me.” After graduating from high school, Gena moved to Nashville.

Over the years, she played with New Vintage, Lou Reid and Carolina, Alan Bibey & Grasstowne, and for four years she had the Gena Britt Band.

She is a founding member of the powerhouse female group, Sister Sadie. “We started playing together thirteen years ago, and it’s been a fun ride,” Gena says. “All the women in the band are so talented, and we have a great time together.” Sister Sadie is on the road again with a new album that dropped at the end of June. “We work hard on our stage show,” Gena says. “There is no dead space.” Sister Sadie’s new album, All Will Be Well, is 90s country and bluegrass fusion – “it’s very diverse, and we make it ours. There are some incredible songwriters in this band right now. I’m writing a lot of songs of instrumentals.”

Gena released a single on Father’s Day called "He Likes to Fish,” a song she co-wrote with Katelyn Ingardia. “It’s based on my childhood memories with my dad. I have wonderful memories of going on fishing trips with my dad to the coast. I was joined in the studio by Jason Carter, John Meador, Jonathan Dillon, and Jeff Partin, and I’m really pleased with how the song turned out.” 

Gena, a founding member of The Daughters of Bluegrass, was part of IBMA's Leadership Bluegrass Class of 2003 and has appeared on all their recordings. She has received seven IBMA awards. In 2001, she received the IBMA Recorded Event of the Year award for her work on Follow Me Back to the Fold by Mark Newton. She won the Recorded Event of the Year award in 2006 for Back to the Well by the Daughters of Bluegrass and Album of the Year for her contribution to A Celebration of Life for Musicians Against Childhood Cancer. In 2017 and 2018, Sister Sadie won Emerging Artist of the Year. She has taken home three IBMA Vocal Group of the Year awards in 2019, 2020, and 2021 with Sister Sadie and the coveted Entertainer of the Year award in 2020 as a member of Sister Sadie. The band received GRAMMY nominations in 2018 for Sister Sadie II (Pinecastle Records) and in 2025 for No Fear. Gena was nominated for SPBGMA’s Banjo Player of the Year award in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and received the award in 2022. She received the title of Female Vocalist of the Year in 2002, and in 2007, Back to the Well by Daughters of Bluegrass was awarded Album of the Year.

Gena resides in eastern North Carolina with her two daughters, Jalyn and Dalsyn.