About The Bands I Play In - January 10, 2011
HILL HOLLOW plays bluegrass and acoustic rock covers. The band consists of Marty Satalino on fiddle and mandolin, Terry Lamphere on bass, Jeff Dooley on banjo, dobro, and accordion, Wayne Lane on rhythm guitar, Chris Lane on acoustic lead guitar, Josh Greenberg on alto sax, Nora Lamphere on vocals and percussion, and me on pedal steel and electric guitar. They are all great pickers and wonderful singers, with strong clear voices and impeccable harmonies. Most of these guys have been playing together for decades, and we achieve that ideal combination of really tight and delightfully loose at the same time, with enough energy to melt down your containment vessel! HILL HOLLOW is the perfect group to hire if you want the barn rafters to lift right up and float away!
CINDY LEGGE and I have a duo. She is an incredible singer who also plays rhythm guitar. I play lead on pedal steel or electric guitar. She sings rock classics and some country, and has a huge and wonderful repertoire. We can add bass and drums for a larger venue, but we sure don't need to -- this has got to be one of the liveliest and most funloving duos you'll ever see!
NATURAL HISTORY plays experimental improvisational music, mostly acoustic, with influences from all over the globe and from every period in human history and evolution. These are the guys I have been playing with since 1973, Jared Shapiro and Derrik Jordan. A typical NATURAL HISTORY concert might include Jared on cello, alto recorder, balafon, percussion, and oud, Derrik on five-string electric violin, percussion, mbira, and cuica, and me on 12-string guitar, sitar, banjo, gourd trumpet, pedal steel, udu drum, and tamboura. We all improvise with our voices at the same time that we improvise with our instruments, weaving an endlessly varied and complex tapestry of exotic, magical, and otherworldly sounds. This is the band to hire for your healing ceremony, art party, seance, or New Age ritualistic wedding; we specialize in telepathy, astral projection, possession states, and other supernatural musical manifestations. A lot of other bands do world fusion nowadays, but we started in 1973! And we go further “out” than anybody except maybe Sun Ra! Definitely the most unusual band your friends will have ever heard!
ZUELA was officially disbanded in 2011 when Lyle Somers went off to college. While we were together we played all original instrumentals (no singing!) with reggae, Afropop, and world music influences. Our last lineup was Lyle Somers on drums, Brendan Eprile on guitar, Hannah Maguire on electric bass, and me on guitar, pedal steel guitar, harmonica, and sometimes even keyboard. I wrote, arranged, and conducted all our material, inspired by Caribbean, Latin, African, Arabic, Indian, and Celtic sounds, as well as by American funk and blues. ZUELA had an extended musical family, and could expand to include Isaac Leslie on trumpet, Lucas Sconzo on guitar, Jacob Goldstone on sax, Andrew Horning on guitar, Nick Hetko on keyboard, Susan Stiner on mandolin, and/or any good horn players or percussionists who happened to be in town. ZUELA started out in 2001 as a student ensemble, but it soon developed into a fully professional group of seasoned young players. Click "links" to check out our two cds if you like to dance to funky worldbeat rhythms or if you have a weakness for reggae and dub with horns. But ZUELA could also get real quiet, more like a jazz band, when playing background music for an art opening or some other conversation-friendly gathering.
I also book solo gigs, playing an endlessly varied mix of reggae, blues, folk, Celtic, jazz, ragas, salsa, Andean, bluegrass, classic rock, funk, Afropop, and more. And I mix in modal improvs that sound like the Gypsy Kings one minute and the Muslim call to prayer the next, or that start out reminding you of classical music and end up sounding like the Grateful Dead! I usually play guitar or pedal steel, and sometimes I sing or add banjo or harmonica, but I never do the same thing twice. I can stir up a rowdy bar, but I also like to make nice unobtrusive background music for weddings, art openings, dinner parties, etc.