The Rangers will be opening for our pal Bill Kitchen. Should be a blast!
Just wanted to put in a word for my new Western Swing band, Kevin Russell's Swing Set, featuring Bobby Black, Blaine Sprouse, Markie Sanders, Cori Wood & Michael Stadler. This is a totally fun group that leans pretty heavily into the Bob Wills/western swing catalog. Kind of a west coast Asleep at the Wheel feel. We don't have recordings available yet but what we do follows my recent CD, Country Swing, pretty closely.
You're, I'm sure, familiar with Bobby Black's work with Asleep at the Wheel/Commander Cody/New Riders of the Purple Sage and others. He's legendary among steel guitar players as a master of tone, timing and taste. And, he's a real nice guy.
Both Bobby and fiddle ace, Blaine Sprouse, also play in the bay area band Lost Weekend. Sprouse has played with all the heavy weights in bluegrass music from Bill Monroe to his current residence in Peter Rowan's bluegrass band. And is considered by many to be among the top fiddle players in the country.
Markie Sanders is a bay area resident with a long history of performance and recording with many of California’s most beloved performers. During her fourteen year tenure in Nashville she had numerous appearances on CMT television and the Grand Old Opry. Markie is a consumate musican, a sought after teacher and the musical heartbeat of the band.
Cori Wood is a singer equally comfortable in jazz, folk, swing or country music. She is often seen performing with local cowboy legend, Scott Gerber, and with various blues, country and jazz bands. As both a soloist or back-up singer she brings a quality of warmth & authenticity to her performance. She is currently recording her first “solo” CD.
Michael Stadler is a multi-instrumentalist who has performed in numerous groups around the bay area for decades. Considered a musicians musician he is equally at home in country music, Celtic or western swing. And he is a powerful vocalist with a CD out that show cases his various talents on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo and more.
Kevin Russell is a multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. He performs regularly in the rockin’ blues band, The Rhythm Rangers and with the bluegrass-ish group, Kevin Russell & his So Called Friends. He also performs with the classic country band, Drifting South. In addition, he is the driving force behind The Sebastopol Guitar Festival, held in early February. He has appeared as a sideman on 21 local recordings by songwriters & groups, has recorded five CD's with his various bands and has five CD's out under his name. His newest project, an all swing music collection is called Country Swing and was released in January 2016. He is a former DJ and writes CD reviews for the online website Freight Train Boogie. com. And, lastly, Kevin has performed as a side player for a number of local songwriters, including Michael Capella, Mark McLay, Teresa Tudury, Doug Jayne, Audrey Auld, Terry Pinnegar, Greg Abel, Greg Scherer, Amy McCarley & more.