This California Celtic band features Ryan McKasson on fiddle, Jeff Spero on keyboard, Christa Burch on bodhrán and vocals, and Bill Flores on mandolin, banjo and guitar.
Reknowned bluegrass fiddler Richard Greene was looking to put together an "American Celtic" band in early 2003, and Ryan, Christa and Jeff came highly recommended from the Los Angeles Celtic communities. They assembled at Richard's house for one rehearsal, and so enjoyed jamming together that six months later - the original project having been abandoned - they reassembled for a contra dance, this time with Bill along for the ride.
Without benefit of rehearsal, but with memories of that earlier jam, they sat down to play... and magic happened. Dancers at that memorable night still talk about the energy, joy and groove-driven music that poured off the stage.
Ryan moved away to Washington state shortly thereafter, and the band took on Kathleen Keane as it's fiddler. it was more than a year later that the band reassembled with Ryan for the CTMS Summer Solstice festival in Calabasas, CA. As they'd done before, they sat down to play without any plans in mind, and let the music and the groove find them as it would. And again, they made magic. This time, plans were laid to capture the unique sound of their jams.
Six months later they made a tour of contra dances in California, recording the dances as they played. These recordings can be heard on their 2005 CD release "Rough Around the Edges - the Syncopaths Live!" While Kathleen played on one track on the CD, she has since left Southern California and only occasionally sits in when she's in town.
The band has now left the comforts of their California roots and has begun touring across the country.
And come visit us at our website www.syncopaths.com or our CDBaby site at http://cdbaby.com/cd/syncopaths
