GENERIC FOLK

In the Beginning ...

The love of music brought us together. Ken and Allison did duets from time to time, and Allison and Corey loved to chase each others' harmonies around. It wasn't until we all lived in one place that we said "hey, we oughta do this in publick!".

We played a few coffehouses, bars, open mics, and small festivals, but when Paul joined in one night -- *CLICK* we had a band, and a sound. We've been having a ball with it ever since. Our roots include Irish folk, English folk (yes there is such a thing!), Canadian and American roots folk, sixties/seventies folk rock, gospel, rock&roll, R&B, country, railroad tunes and poetic ballads. We love to do unusual arrangements and harmonies, even on old standards; our shows include the quiet & philosophical to the raucous & rockin'. With all that, it's still the love of music, and doing something creative and innovative, that keeps us going.

It's who we are.

	Ken Horne has been playing acoustic guitar for ... well, as nearly as we can tell, forever. His amazing fingerpicking and syncopation are the acoustic lead and rhythm for most of our tunes. Ken is an excellent storyteller (read: BS artiste), knows ten million songs, and can seemingly play anything. With his gruff, gravelly bass and surprisingly gentle harmonies, Ken lends wisdom and grit to our vocals and a flash of gnomish charm to our stage presence. Being an ordained minister, he's also our spiritual grounding. He's an inspiration to all of us.
Allison Johnson has a smile that can light up an auditorium, but her vocals do it far better. Her clear, clean tones weave over and through our songs; as our lead vocalist, she leads us a merry chase and we enjoy just trying to keep up. Although a mezzo-soprano, Allison can dig pretty far into the alto range and reach up into the coleratura, and her power is such that we usually have to turn her mic down just so the audience knows we're also playing. Allison plays piano, but we don't let her. She just sings too well.
	Paul Boone is a classical musician in a heavy metal package. Our lead guitarist, Paul inserts fire, magic, and edge into our otherwise acoustic sound. His clear command of the instrument gives elemental voice and passion to our tunes. Paul writes most of his electric parts, and his relentless pursuit of perfection awes us all (Paul, my fingers hurt ... can we stop now?). Paul doesn't sing; he doesn't need to. He expresses himself through his guitar's voice most eloquently.
Corey Crompton refuses to specialise. Whether rhythm guitar, lead picking, harmonica, mandolin, 12-string or bodhrán (his weapon of choice) is needed, Corey fills in the gaps and gives versatility and depth to our music. His slightly husky Irish tenor fills in between Allison and Ken, and he's second only to Ken in keeping up the patter (read: BS artiste, journeyman). Corey does lead vocals when required, remembers what key the %*! song is supposed to be in, and often sets the rhythm with his bodhrán (Irish drum). If forced to, he can yodel.