I'm assuming/hoping Rowns will have this band on the main stage and not just for night grass. Haven't seen this incarnation before (anyone?), but looks interesting.
http://www.antones.net/event/195997-peter-rowan-twang-groove-austin/Peter Rowan: Twang an’ Groove
“The Texas Hill Country west of Austin has offered me a refuge from touring and the "road" for more than twenty years now. While recording and touring with my bluegrass band for Compass Records and with Tony Rice for Rounder Records, my time in Texas grew scarce, but I still found time to go "home' and write songs there. Songs I have written at home in Texas always needed a feel that is unique to those hills. This is the sound of Twang an’ Groove
I began recording some of my new songs over at The Zone studios in Dripping Springs. Owner Mike Morgan opened the doors for me and booked me on a couple of Jerry Garcia Day concerts. Mike has been very instrumental in finding local musicians for my recent shows around Austin. Mike plays bass with me now and has invited great players to join in the Twang an’ Groove experience!
The great Texas rocker and song-writer, Doug Sahm, called
Austin "Groove City", hence the Groove of Twang an’ Groove. I
play electric guitar as well as Carter Arrington, piano player Darrell Commander expands the sound and superlative drummer Jamie Oldaker brings that Tulsa beat to our groove. I have admired Jamie's approach to the drums since his days with Eric Clapton and later, The Tractors.
Twang n' Groove is where Rhythm and Blues meets Reggae at an all day Bluegrass pickin’ party. It is so much fun to be twangin' and groovin' with these guys, my first full on rock and roll band since The Cupids, when I was 14, and later, the undaunted Seatrain. Music never stands still, always on the move, from bluegrass and blues, to Twang an’ Groove!”
Peter Rowan – Guitar, Vocals
GRAMMY-award winner and six-time GRAMMY nominee, Peter Rowan is a bluegrass singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades. From his early years playing under the tutelage of bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe, Peter’s stint in Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia and his subsequent breakout as both a solo performer and bandleader, Rowan has built a devoted, international fan base through his continuous stream of original recordings, collaborative projects, and constant touring.
Jamie Oldaker- Drums
Jamie Oldaker is revered in the drumming community. Over the past three decades he has toured and recorded with some of popular music's greatest artists: Eric Clapton, Bob Seger, Stephen Stills, Peter Frampton, to name a few. Oldaker has also worked with the Bellamy Brothers, The Gap Band, Asleep at
the Wheel, Leon Russell, Ace Frehley, Freddie King, the Bee Gees, and many others as both a session and touring drummer and producer. He was a founding member of the Tractors, who hit platinum out of the gate with their self-titled debut album on Arista Records in 1994. Along the way Oldaker learned about all
facets of the music business, working in artist management, music publishing, and as a producer, putting together an all-star album, Mad Dogs & Okies, centered around songs written by Oklahoma natives and featuring performances by Vince Gill, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, J.J. Cale, Peter Frampton, Tony Joe White, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Bramlett, and others.
Mike Morgan- Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Morgan toured from 1976 -1982 as a bassist and sound engineer for Jerry Jeff Walker, Rusty Weir, UFO, Taj Mahal, and Wild Cherry, including a short run of live performances and recordings with Allen Ginsburg and Peter Orlovsky. In late 1982 Morgan built the Barn recording studio in Austin, to record his own songs. Morgan began writing with theatrical rock legend, Arthur Brown, from the “Crazy World of Arthur Brown”; songs Morgan and Brown co-wrote have made it to five CDs to date. Morgan’s band, Flounders without Eyes, with whom Peter Rowan performs infrequently, is a pillar of the Jam Band scene in Austin, celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2012.
Carter Arrington- Guitar
A passionate guitar player since the age of twelve, Carter received one of twenty-five national scholarships for the Berklee College of Music for guitar, and was accepted into the Atlanta Institute of Music before he'd graduated from high school. By age twenty four, Carter had completed his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance at the University of Texas at Austin, while continuing to tour and make festival performances all over the country. Carter works with a variety of styles and in groups both local and national, including Malford Milligan, Peter Rowan, Col. Bruce Hampton, Denny Freeman, Arthur Brown, Grant Green Jr., Kirk Covington, Mike Morgan and RhythmicStatues, and more
Darrell Commander-Piano
D R Commander taught himself piano at age 7 by playing along with early 80's country and pop songs on the radio in his hometown of Beaumont, Texas. He received classical training on the trumpet in junior high and high school and played 3 seasons with the University of Houston Jazz Ensemble before hanging up the trumpet to pursue the keyboard full time. Commander moved to Austin in 2000, joining Harmony Theory, a Jazz Jam Band. He has performed and recorded with country bands, jazz fusion bands, soul bands, jam bands, including
numerous dates with Michelle Shocked; when he adds his piano to a bluegrass performance, it fits as well as banjo or a fiddle. Commander's approach to the keyboard is most heavily influenced by the likes of Billy Payne, Bruce Hornsby,
Bob Mayo, Lyle Mays, and Ray Manzarek. He was invited to join Flounders without Eyes in 2010.
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