Music:
Member Since: 1/1/2007
Band Members: The soundclips are of tunes that I recorded using multitracking. I played all the instruments heard on the recordings (banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, electric bass). In real life, I play in a few bands that have other people playing besides myself (thankfully). Currently, I play banjo with New Old Friends (with Randy Oman on guitar, Rollie Champe on mandolin, and Chuck Davidshofer on bass), banjo with the Muddy Bottom Boys (with Dave Quinton on bass, Pete "Spud" Siegel on mandolin and accordian, usually Kevin Healy on fiddle, and since the untimely passing of guitarist / leader Don Broom, ?? on guitar), banjo with Dr. Corn's Bluegrass Remedy (with Jim Seafeldt on guitar, Stew Dodge on fiddle, Greg Clarke on mandolin, and various people on bass), guitar with the Steve Hall Quintet (with Steve Hall on organ, Cal Hudson on saxophones, Patrick Nearing on trumpet, and Kenny Morse on drums). I sometimes play with the Rose City Bluegrass Band (playing banjo or fiddle), with Ida Viper (playing banjo, fiddle, and electric bass), with Larry Wilder (banjo, mandolin, and fiddle), and saxophonist Reggie Houston (on guitar).
Influences: I was going to start a list here, but there are so many musicians whose playing I admire (and several of these musicians have influenced my playing) that it would "take forever" to make a complete list. I guess I will list a few of my main early influences (though there are lots of players out there today who play stuff that probably influences me at least subconsciously): my bluegrass banjo influences came first - Earl Scruggs, Bill Keith, Winnie Winston, Porter Church, Bill Emerson, Bobby Thompson, Allan Shelton, Don Stover, Sonny Osborne, Jimmy Arnold, Del McCoury, Marc Horowitz, Larry Smith; then some mandolin influences - Andy Statman, Jesse McReynolds, Frank Wakefield, Doyle Lawson, David Grisman; I learned some Doc Watson stuff; the multi-instrumentalist and eclectic Ken Gehret got me interested in jazz (and turned me on to Joe Pass, Pat Martino, John Coltrane, and others); Scott Nygaard played me an early John Scofield album which I really dug. My brother Rob's piano playing was (and is) always inspirational to listen to. I should have spent more time listening to great fiddlers but I didn't get into playing fiddle much until recently (but I did like players like Kenny Baker, Bobby Hicks, Jimmy Buchanan, Scotty Stoneman). I loved Zbigniew Seifert's "Coltranesque" approach to playing jazz violin (though not much has rubbed off unfortunately). I'm getting tired at this time and if I add to this list, it will be at a later time. Sorry to the many influences I've left out (who came later in my musical development).
Record Label: Unsigned