An all-star band spiraling out of the seething brew that is the music community of Portland, Oregon. Musical legends Darol Anger (violin) and Carlton Jackson (drums), have combined forces with acknowledged monsters Scott Law (gtr) and Tye North (bass) for a musical experience which embraces the length, width and depth of American Music; in the great tradition of groups like The Band and NRBQ, this band covers it all and unites traditions in their original songs and dances.
Singer-songwriter-instrumentalist SCOTT LAW’s fiery guitar and mandolin playing compliment a smokey-sweet tenor voice and a book of songs from punkfunk-jazz to three-chord Americana. A lifelong improviser who thrives on live performance, Scott has a grounded, soulful stage presence and is as comfortable in an intimate acoustic setting as with a highly energized electro-psychedelic-blues-rock raging freakout. He has worked with Phil Lesh, Bill Nershi (Honkytonk Homeslice), Hanuman, Melvin Seals, his own group (Scott Law Band) and The Piano Throwers.
The LA Times has described CARLTON JACKSON's drumming as being "intensely musical." This phrase also perfectly describes Carlton, a nationally known first call musician in the industry. His incisive style & mastery of various music genres has made him a natural choice for his work in live performance, feature films, television and radio. Carlton has worked with jazz greats Tom Grant, Leroy Vinnegar, Billy Eckstine, Bo Diddley, Jerry Hahn, Maryann Price, Mark Isham, Jim Pepper, Bobby Torres, James Cotton, Houston Person, actor Bruce Willis, Dianne Schuur, Larry Coryell, Danny Barnes, Bill Frisell, and Gordon Lee. Carlton has also worked under the batons of conductors Pete Rugolo, Norman Leyden and James DePreist. Dan Balmer and Terry Robb, Blues/R&B singers D.K.Stewart and Curtis Salgado, country-pop singer Toni Land and iconoclastic composer Jon Newton, have also engaged his musical services.
A native of Portland, Oregon, bassist TYE NORTH toured all over the US with Leftover Salmon for 7 years. He recording three records with them, featuring guests Bela Fleck, Waylon Jennings, Earl Scruggs, and Lucinda Williams. Tye has performed and collaborated with Victor Wooten, Paul Mccandless, Mike Kang, Sam Bush, Karl Denson, Robert Walter, Jessica Lurie, Darol Anger, Taj Mahal, Future Man, Wally Ingram, Jeff Coffin, and Bruce Hampton. He has taken part in and promoted concerts for the Annual Zambiland Orchestra, held by beloved drummer Jeff Sipe. He recorded and toured with the group Comotion, featuring Mike Kang, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Paul McCandless, Jeff Sipe, and Aaron Johnston.
Violinist, fiddler, composer, producer and educator, DAROL ANGER is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. He developed his signature sound through working with many of the world’s great improvising string musicians, among them Stephane Grappelli, Mark O’Connor, Bela Fleck, Tony Rice, David Grisman and Vassar Clements.
His current group, The Republic Of Strings, breaks new territory for bowed string instruments and presents young talent. With the jazz-oriented Turtle Island String Quartet, Anger developed and popularized new techniques for playing contemporary music on string instruments. His groups The Republic of Strings, The Fiddlers 4, Psychograss, and the Anger-Marshall Duo feature his compositions and arrangements. His group Montreux was the original musical model for the New Adult Contemporary radio format. The David Grisman Quintet forged a new genre of acoustic string band music with Darol’s “fertile inventiveness, surprising touches and technical mastery” often in the forefront. Anger has produced dozens of critically lauded recordings since 1977 which have featured his compositions and performances.
“Darol Anger is the sort of musician who refuses to concede that musical boundaries even exist. Surrounding himself with up-and-coming musicians of the absolute top rank, Anger has upped the ante of string-band music almost off the charts.”–Amazon.com
Special Guest and Co-Founder TONY FURTADO, who grew up in Pleasanton, Calififornia, took up the banjo at 12 and was hailed as a prodigy at age 19. While he has cemented his reputation as a banjoist extraordinaire with numerous recordings, Furtado has also developed into an equally virtuosic slide guitarist, singer and songwriter. Tony's playing has a rootsy drive to it that captures your attention and takes you into the wide-open spaces of mythopoetic America, a terrain inhabited by such personal heroes of Tony's as Ry Cooder, the Band, John Fogerty, Tom Petty and Tom Waits.
