True North

******* July 11,2008 ******

Due to a death in the family of "True North", that band will not appear as scheduled this year at the Prospect Bluegrass Festival. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.

Kristen Grainger
Vocals
Dan Wetzel
Mandolin, guitar, vocals
Dale Adkins
Guitar, vocals
Suzanne Pearce
Upright bass, vocals

Website    Email

Northwest indie-grass quartet True North combines traditional bluegrass instrumentation with soulful vocals, fat harmonies and folk-edged songwriting for a decidedly modern acoustic sound. True North's tight and careful arrangements can be alternately big and wild, tender and deliberate.

Original songs written by Kristen Grainger and Dan Wetzel give the band a fresh, modern bent, but you can also count on True North to perform bluegrass standards with originality and style, and give a few carefully-chosen non-traditional covers like Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” a beautiful new identity.

True North's members are seasoned bluegrass pickers with a great deal of band and studio experiences between them. The band’s instrumental skills are exceptional; its vocals, both lead and harmony, are outstanding.

Although True North’s individual players are champion pickers and award-winning songwriters who are well-known in Oregon’s bluegrass scene, it is the synergy created by the combination of these performers that makes the sound of True North unparalleled.

Green Mountain Bluegrass Band

Dennis Berck
Rhythm guitar/lead
Mike Bray
Acoustic upright bass
Gary Dunbar
Lead guitar
Chuck Holloway
5-string banjo

Tyler Lynn

Mandolin

Website    Email
 

With a hard driving 5-string banjo being the catalyst for their sound, Green Mountain Bluegrass melds a quintet of some of the Southern Willamette Valley’s best players, blending Oregon’s old bluegrass veterans with Oregon’s young bluegrass veterans, producing honest to goodness quality bluegrass music. The Green Mountain Bluegrass Band delivers hard driving, traditional sounding bluegrass music.

New Old Stock Band

Simon Chrisman

Hammered dulcimer,

Tristan Clarridge Cello/Fiddle,

Tashina Clarridge

Fiddle,

 Wes Corbett

5 String Banjo
 

Website
 

Tracing its roots back to musical traditions as diverse as Bluegrass, Celtic and Jazz, New Old Stock boasts four of the most accomplished and creative young talents of their generation.

The quartet combines the unique musical stylings of hammered dulcimer virtuoso Simon Chrisman and banjoist Wesley Corbett with the inimitable sound of brother-sister fiddle duo Tristan and Tashina Clarridge. Tristan, an inventive cellist and 5-time Grand National Fiddle Champion, currently tours with Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings and has appeared with Cape Breton fiddle phenomenon

Natalie McMaster. his sister Tashina, the 2005 Grand National Fiddle Champion, has toured with Mark O’Connor and performed at Carnegie Hall as part of Grammy-winning bassist Edgar Meyer's Young Artists program. Since starting the banjo at age 16, 21-year-old Wesley Corbett has appeared with the David Grisman Quintet, Matt Glaser, and Crooked still, recently opened for Tony Rice as part of the Lincoln Meyers String Alliance, and currently tours with North Carolina’s bluegrass sensation the Biscuit Burners.

Wesley’s longtime musical collaborator, hammered dulcimer wizard Simon Chrisman, has performed at Seattle's Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Central jazz band, opened for Bill Frisell, and at 16 was invited to be a scholarship guest artist at the Augusta Heritage Festival in West Virginia.

The result of the foursome’s collaboration is in an elegant fusion of tradition and innovation. With material ranging from American fiddle tunes to original compositions, New Old Stock is a powerful creative force at the forefront of the emerging New Acoustic music scene.

Siskiyou Summit Bluegrass Band

Glenn Freese

Guitar

Bob Evoniuk
Dobro

Crystal Reeves
Fiddle

 Jim Calhoun
Upright Bass

Rick Nelson
Banjo.

Jeff Jones

Mandolin

Website      Email

The Goldman Family

Steve

Guitar
Tami

Fiddle
Alex

Fiddle
Collin

Mandolin
Anna

Penny Whistle
Cassie

Fiddle
Mailee

Fiddle
Murren

Fiddle
William

Fiddle

Website      Email
 

At age 24, I was given the most wonderful gift my God has given me in this world: my wife Tami.  She was only 17 when we married (about two weeks before her 18th birthday).  We both had aspirations to do something in music long before we met.  Tami was taking fiddle lessons when we met, and her experience is what got our kids started on their fiddles when they came along. 

When Tami and I started out, I don't think we had intentions of having a large family, but we also didn't have any intentions of having a small one either.  It just sort of happened! 

We instilled in them a desire for music when they were just toddlers.  Now, we are looking forward to finding out what instrument the younger ones are going to play and watching what God does with the older ones in their careers.  The Lord has blessed us with a teacher that not only gives our second son, Collin, lessons on his mandolin, but he also gives me guitar lessons. This has been a wonderful experience and I look forward to seeing what God will do with our family music.
 

Leon Flick - Cowboy Poet & Story Teller

Website      Email

Born in Gunnison, Colorado, on March 4, 1954, Leon Flick was the youngest of three children. His family, which included his parents, Carroll and Vivian, and his sisters, Thelma and Nancy, moved from Gunnison to

Lakeview, Oregon when Leon was just three years old. In Oregon he grew up on working ranches, learning to ride on Chief, an old paint horse that was about 16 hands high. Chief had been teacher, friend, baby sitter,

and loyal companion to several kids, and, to those who knew him, was worth twice his weight in gold. Leon is still reminded of his old friend every time he sees some little guy crawling up some horse's leg, swinging on the saddle strings, finally getting a stirrup, and climbing into the saddle. The world is a big place when you’re a “button”, and God never made a better place to view it from than the back of a horse.

Leon and his wife, Billie, live in Plush, Oregon, a small, high desert town people about 40 miles north of where California and Nevada join Oregon. Remote would be a fitting word, as it is more than 200 miles to the nearest freeway. The countryside is filled with sagebrush, rocks, cows, and a very few of the nicest families on Earth.

Mighty Lonesomes

Just four guys drawn together by the love of bluegrass and face-melting vocal harmonies. After having won an open mic contest at the Mobius in their first public appearance, the Mighty Lonesomes are now ready to take on the world.

The infectious acoustic interplay and vocals are taking the Rogue Valley by storm. We now come complete with sound system for the whole package. Check back for upcoming gigs. And don't worry, new original music is in the works.

Pat Connell

Guitar/Vocals

Thad Jacobson Banjo/Vocals

Phil Johnson Mandolin/Vocals

Peter Koelsch

Bass/Vocals

Website      Email

Gold River Band

More info coming soon