Born in Bryn Mar Pennsylvania in 1970, Patrick Costello spent his childhood in rural Chester County, PA. He started making music as a teenager in Philadelphia marching in the Mummers Parade with his father and learning banjo and guitar from people he met wandering the city.
In the 1991 Patrick moved to Crisfield, Maryland – a small fishing town on the Chesapeake Bay. After a producing a wildly popular radio show Patrick and his father, known to students and fans around the world as “Dear Old Dad”, started experimenting with way to teach music over the Internet. In 1997 Patrick and Dear Old Dad launched their first web site and pioneered distance education over the world wide web. Over the years the duo has introduced tens of thousands of people around the world to the joy of making music.
Patrick has been dealing with major hearing loss for most of his life. By 2007 he was almost completely deaf, but through sheer force of will he managed to continue playing and teaching – often playing by feel when he could not hear his instrument. In 2009 he had a bone-anchored hearing aid installed at Johns Hopkins. The surgery and the device have given him some of his hearing back.
Patrick used his experiences with hearing loss to help him work with other handicapped musicians. In 2009 he developed a banjo tabulature system that works with braille displays.
In 2010 Patrick married his sweetheart Amy and moved to Manassas, Virginia. He is currently working on several projects while happily ever-aftering with his bride.
