Greenbroke

The newly formed bluegrass “supergroup” Greenbroke initially came together when four bluegrass veterans thought it would be “fun to play a show or two together.” Brad Davis (guitar), John Cowan (bass), John Moore (mandolin), and Dennis Caplinger (banjo/fiddle) were originally hired to share the stage at the “Pickin’ at the Pavilion” festival in Montrose, Colorado. After their show in April of 2006 the four friends decided that the show sounded too good and was way too much fun to only repeat once a year. After the Montrose event they unanimously decided to “do a lot more of this!” The group has started accepting bookings and plans on recording a CD in 2007. There is also discussion of a live performance DVD.
Greenbroke’s material runs a wide and diverse spectrum in the bluegrass genre. They perform traditional bluegrass vocal and instrumental numbers, accapella gospel songs, Newgrass Revival favorites, and original material written by the band members. All four members of the band are known for their phenomenal instrumental abilities, strong singing voices, highly entertaining and engaging MC work, and high energy performances. Together they provide an extremely exciting and captivating show. Each member of Greenbroke brings something special to the band and when those parts are added together the result is much more than the sum of those individual parts. There is a chemistry and charisma to this group that must be experienced to be understood. There is a East coast meets West coast, old grass meets new grass mix that makes their music appeal to a very wide range of fans.
About the band members:
John Cowan:
John Cowan’s history is inextricably bound up with the legendary group New Grass Revival. Possessing arguably one of the most powerful and emotive tenor voices in today’s music, John Cowan became a professional music maker since age 14, Cowan was a veteran of Louisville rock bands such as Everyday People and Louisville Sound Department (LSD) by age 20. He auditioned for New Grass Revival in 1974. He remained a member of that ground breaking band for the next 16 years. Since leaving Newgrass John has lent his voice to a long list of prominent recordings including solo CDs with Sugar Hill and Pinecastle records.
Brad Davis:
Brad Davis spent ten years (1992-2002) performing on stage as a member of Marty Stuart’s road band. For the past six years he has played lead acoustic guitar with Earl Scruggs and Friends, and for the past five years he has played lead electric and acoustic guitar with movie actor Billy Bob Thornton’s rock band. He spent two years (2003-2004) as the guitar player for the Sam Bush Band and also performed with John Jorgenson’s Gypsy jazz quintet in 2005.
A prolific songwriter Brad has had over forty-five of his songs recorded by various country and bluegrass artists, including country star Tim McGraw (“Ain’t No Angels”). He has played on Marty Stuart’s gold selling album “This Ones Gonna Hurt You”, the Marty Stuart “Hit Pack”, and Marty’s last MCA recording “The Pilgrim.” He played on the soundtrack of Steven Seagal’s “Fire Down Below”, and performed music for Billy Bob Thornton’s Miramax releases “Daddy And Them” and “Waking Up In Reno”. He has also recorded with Sheryl Crow, and others, on the Johnny Cash tribute album “Kindred Spirits”, played guitar on Warren Zevon’s final Grammy-winning recording, and was featured on Sam Bush’s Sugar Hill release “King of My World.”
Brad has recorded two album projects featuring Billy Bob Thornton on Mercury and has toured both Europe and the United States as the lead guitar player for Billy Bob Thornton’s band. Additionally, Brad has worked for, or recorded with, Willie Nelson, Emmy Lou Harris, Pam Tillis, The Forester Sisters, Tommy Shaw (Styx), David Lee Roth (Van Halen), and The Sweethearts of the Rodeo. He is currently the host of Commerce County Line, a singer/songwriter television program on the iTelevision network. His two solo recordings “I’m Not Gonna Let My Blues Bring Me Down” and “This World Ain’t No Child Anymore”, both on the FGM label, have been released to rave reviews. Brad is also a columnist for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and has conducted guitar workshops, camps and clinics all over the world.
John Moore:
In addition to being the mandolinist, guitarist and vocalist for Bluegrass Etc., John was also the mandolinist with the internationally acclaimed band California, the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 1992, 1993 and 1994 Instrumental Band of the Year. John’s musical performances have led him throughout the U.S. and Canada, Europe and Japan, as well as in to the studio doing sessions for other artists. He does radio and television commercials, movie soundtracks including “Blaze” for Touchstone Pictures, “El Diablo” for HBO, “Christmas in Connecticut” in which he also appeared and “The Spitfire Grill” for Hallmark Hall of Fame.
John also recorded the soundtrack for, and appeared in the CBS Television Special “The Legend of the Beverly Hillbillies” in a four piece band with Roy Clark, Byron Berline and Earl Scruggs. He recently recorded a Grammy nominated album with Byron Berline, Vince Gill, Bill Bryson, Dennis Caplinger, Rick Cunha and Jann Browne, and another with Mike Oldfield of “Tubular Bells” fame. John was featured on the cover of the May/June 1993 issue of Bluegrass Now magazine, and was also featured on the cover of the May/ June 1999 issue of Flatpick Guitar Magazine.
Dennis Caplinger:
Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Dennis Caplinger is one of the most sought after studio musicians in California and often travels to Nashville, Tennessee to do sessions. He is currently under contract with Network Productions of San Diego, CA recording numerous television and radio commercials as well as writing and recording music for their extensive music library—one of the largest in the world. His movie soundtrack credits include “Back to the Future III”, “El Diablo”, “Rio Diablo” and Steven King’s “Apt Pupil,” among others.
Dennis’ playing is regularly featured on the soundtrack of the Warner Bros. cartoons “Pinky and the Brain” and “Histeria”, as well as on recent commercials for “New York Life”, “Supercuts”, “Subway Sandwiches” and “Discover Card” featuring John Lithgow. He is a regular in the Academy of Country Music Awards Show band, and has just finished recording on new album projects with Rita Coolidge and mandolinist John Reishmann.
Dennis is a frequent contributor to Banjo Newsletter and can be seen in the October 1999 issue of Bluegrass Now magazine which contains a feature article on him.