A panhandle is an American informal geographic term for an elongated arm-like protrusion of a geo-political entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state.

The term "panhandle" derives from the analogous part of a cooking pan, and its use is generally confined to the United States. A term used elsewhere is salient, derived from military salients. While similar to a peninsula in shape, a panhandle is not surrounded by water on three sides and connected to a geographical mainland. Instead, it is delimited by a land border on at least two sides and extends out from the larger geographical body of the administrative unit.

The panhandle shape is the result of arbitrarily drawn international or subnational boundaries, although the location of some administrative borders takes into account other considerations such as economic ties or topography. In the United States, a protrusion with a less elongated shape is informally called a bootheel.

^† This definition of the Florida panhandle includes the following counties: Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington.

William Smith Monroe (September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. He is often referred to as The Father of Bluegrass.

Monroe was born on his family's farm near Rosine, Kentucky, the youngest of eight children of James Buchanan "Buck" and Malissa (Vandiver) Monroe. His mother and her brother, Pendleton "Pen" Vandiver, were both musically talented, and Monroe and his family grew up playing and singing at home. Bill was of Scottish heritage. Because his older brothers Birch and Charlie already played the fiddle and guitar, Bill Monroe was resigned to playing the less desirable mandolin. He recalled that his brothers insisted he remove four of the mandolin's eight strings so he would not play too loudly.

Monroe's mother died when he was ten, followed by his father six years later. As his brothers and sisters had moved away, after bouncing among uncles and aunts, Monroe settled in with his disabled uncle Pendleton Vandiver, often accompanying him when Vandiver played the fiddle at dances. This experience inspired one of Monroe's most famous compositions, "Uncle Pen," recorded in 1950, and the 1972 album, "Bill Monroe's Uncle Pen." On that album, Monroe recorded a number of traditional fiddle tunes he had often heard performed by Vandiver. Uncle Pen has been credited with giving Monroe "a repertoire of tunes that sank into Bill's aurally trained memory and a sense of rhythm that seeped into his bones." Also significant in Monroe's musical life was Arnold Shultz, an influential fiddler and guitarist who introduced Monroe to the blues.

Byron Berline (born July 6, 1944 Caldwell, Kansas) is an American fiddle player. He is widely recognized as one of the world's premiere fiddle players, known for his ability to play almost any style within the vast American tradition -- from old-time to ragtime, bluegrass, Cajun, country, rock, and beyond.

He started playing the fiddle at age five and quickly developed a talent for it. In 1965, he recorded the album Pickin' and Fiddlin' with the Dillards. The same year, he met Bill Monroe at the Newport Folk Festival and was offered a job with the Bluegrass Boys but he turned it down because he had to finish his education. He was graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1967, with a teaching degree in Physical Education, and joined the Bluegrass Boys shortly after.

Byron Berline first met Bill Monroe in 1965 and was offered a job then. It wasn't until 1967 that he actually joined the band, though, replacing Richard Greene in March and leaving to go into the Army in September. He recorded three instrumentals with the Blue Grass Boys, including "Gold Rush" which he cowrote with Monroe, and which has become a jam session standard.

Buddy Merrill (born July 16, 1936) is an American guitar player and musician who was best known as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show. His style of guitar playing is known as multi-tracking.

The oldest of four children whose father was also a musician, he was born in Torrey, Utah. At age eight, he got his first guitar and soon enough, began performing live with his father's band, The Fremont River Rangers. When he was eleven, he even appeared with his dad live on local television station KDYL in Salt Lake City.

When the family moved out to Los Angeles, California in the early 1950s, Buddy continued to perfect his musical skills, playing both the acoustic guitar and the steel guitar. He also began to do home recordings of himself playing rhythm guitar to a song, which was how the legendary Les Paul did in the recording studios, though Paul overdubbed multiple guitar parts. He also continued to perform live throughout high school in dances, social functions and at clubs.

Merrill joined the Lawrence Welk Show in 1955, the same year it first went national on ABC. At nineteen his youth and energy made him very popular with the ladies and his artistry with the guitar made him highly-sought after as a live performer, studio musician and also garnered him respect within the music industry. He briefly left the show from 1959 to 1962 when he was drafted by the Army. On his return to the Music Makers he was joined in the band's rhythm section with fellow guitarist Neil Levang. For the next twelve years the two would be television's most dynamic guitar duo, attracting a whole legion of fans and admirers.