Steve Vanlandingham grew up in Oklahoma and began playing the guitar in college, learning the blues and ragtime styles of Mississippi John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotton and other early folk musicians. He took up the 5-string banjo, inspired by the music of the Appalachian Mountains, and learned the old-time styles of Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones and others. One thing led to another and before long Steve had traced the roots of American traditional music to Ireland and deeply immersed himself in Celtic music on a variety of string instruments. Along the way he studied archeology and received a BA from the University of Oklahoma in 1978. When not doing survey work, Steve plays guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, banjo,'ud and various percussion instruments. He is an award-winning 5-string banjo player in the old-time "clawhammer" style.
Steve founded one of Oklahoma's original Celtic bands, "Banish Misfortune," in 1980. They toured and performed all over the state of Oklahoma in conjunction with the State Arts Council for over 25 years.In 2004, he teamed up with flutist Miranda Arana to form Arabesque, a duo that blends Celtic and world music traditions. Most recently, he has participated in the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat as a co-instructor in the "Irish music basics" class.