Jerome Henry "Butch" Baldassari was an American mandolinist, composer, and music professor who played guitar in teenage rock bands prior to adopting the mandolin at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1972. Baldassari performed with bluegrass group Weary Hearts from 1986 to 1990, winning the Best Bluegrass Band Award from SPBGMA in 1988. Baldassari established the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble in 1990 and played with Lonesome Standard Time from 1992 to 1998, contributing to the Grammy-nominated album Lonesome River Band (1992) and the 1993 IBMA Song of the Year "Lonesome Standard Time". Baldassari established SoundArt Recordings, released instructional media through Homespun Music Instruction, and taught as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music. Solo recordings include What's Doin' (1987), Cantabile: Duets for Mandolin and Guitar (1998), A Day in the Country (2006), and Leavin' Tennessee (2010). Born on December 11, 1952, Baldassari died of a brain tumor in Nashville on January 10, 2009.
