Member Since: 02/02/2008
Band Website: Streaming - www.radiofreejax.com
Band Members: "Progressive Roots" hosts Ken Connors and Cee Cee Severin host jam sessions and house concerts. Ken plays guitar, banjo, and dobro. Cee Cee plays bass, sings lead and harmony. Both sing and write songs.Their tastes in music are all over the map, but lean towards folk, bluegrass, and Americana. They play folk, bluegrass, and some country - real country.
Ken and Cee Cee met in 1980, and after Ken found that Cee Cee had all of Leonard Cohen's records in her collection, he felt it was inevitable that they would get marrired, which they did in 1982. They lived in Pittsburgh until 1997 when they relocated to Jacksonville.Cee Cee was heavily involved with the early evolution of WYEP in Pittsburgh in the mid '70's, an independent, listener-supported radio station which remains successful to this day.Despite having season tickets to Jaguar games and pulling for the Jags, they remain loyal Pittsburgh Steeler fans.Ken and his brother Dan were in the crowd when Frano Harris made his Immaculate Reception in 1972 against the Hated Oakland Raiders.
Influences: Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Cheryl Wheeler, Mickey Newbury, Seldom Scene, Gordon Lightfoot, Ella Fitzgerald, Lacy J Dalton, Merle Haggard, Bill Mazeroski, Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Brodsky, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Belefonte, Slaid Cleaves, Stan Rogers, Burns Sisters, David Milam, The Roches, The Country Gentlemen, Ralph McTell, Huey Freeman, Dixie Chicks, Steve Earle, Mary Gauthier, Gamble Rogers, Tom Russell, Flatt & Scruggs, Guy Clark, Laurie Lewis, Rod MacDonald, Anne Feeney, Carl Hiasson, Small Potatoes, David Massengill, Tom Paxton, Jamie DeFreites, Woddie Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Donna Frost, John McCutcheon, Craig Stadler, Neal & Leandra, Bill Morrissey, Saturday Light Brigade, Greg Brown, Peter Paul & Mary, John Prine, Ray Charles, Tom Waits, Chesapeake, Dave Brubeck, Larry Mangum, Charlie Parker, Fred Eaglesmith, Iris DeMent, Michael Smith, Tammerlin, Steve Goodman, Phil Ochs, Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Pogues, The Clancy Brothers, Sweet Honey and the Rock, Merle Travis, Wishing Chair, Ken Batista, Howard Zinn, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tim Dorsey, Cliff Eberhardt, Simon & Garfunkel, Fast Folk, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful, Taj Mahal, Holly Near, Garrison Keillor, Paul Robeson, Ronny Elliott, Chris Chandler, Charlie Parker, Ashley Gang, Dizzy Gillespie, Rogers & Hammerstein, Hank Wilson, Groucho and Karl Marx, Eliza Gilkyson, Tony Rice, C.W. Kalb, Bill Monroe, Charlie Batch, and others.
Sounds Like: Ken Batista's "American Sampler" on WYEP in Pittsburgh, "The Morning Show" on WMNF in Tampa, WDVX in Knoxville, TN, Folk Alley --- but with more politics in the mix.
Type of Label: Major