|
|
|
|
Moonlight Rodeo began to take shape in the Spring of 1994, in the sunny town of San Rafael, in Marin County, California. It grew out of a series of informal living room jams by Kurt Huget, Mayne Smith, and Jesse Lee Kincaid, who shared a common appreciation for country and roots music. (These jams gave Mayne and Jesse an opportunity to get reacquainted; it had been many years since they crossed paths at the Troubadour and Ash Grove folk clubs in L.A. during the golden years of the mid-Sixties.) The fellas seemed to enjoy so much what went down at these jams that they decided to enlist some co-conspirators (such as Dave Getz from Big Brother & The Holding Company) and put together an official band. The rest is (our) history.
In 2000, the band released its debut CD, which received local and international airplay, and garnered some favorable press reviews as well. The latest CD ("Rio Lindo"), released in August 2003, again features all original material, but this time includes the collaborative contributions of Robert Hunter, longtime Grateful Dead lyricist, who co-wrote 5 of the songs with Kurt Huget.
The core members of the band are the following:
Earl Hopping: Bass
Kurt Huget: Vocals, guitar (Band leader, songwriter, and PA shlepper)
Mike Spinrad: Drums
Here's our circle of friends and supporting musicians who have played with us in the past:
Bruce Barthol: Bass (Founding member of Country Joe & The Fish; now with the S.F. Mime Troupe)
Dave Getz: Drums (Founding member of Big Brother & The Holding Company)
Mayne Smith: Pedal steel, dobro (Noted bluegrass music scholar)
Jesse Lee Kincaid: Vocals, guitar (Founding member of the Rising Sons, with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder)
Martin Fierro: Sax (Zero, Jerry Garcia Band)
Mario Cipollina: Bass (Huey Lewis and The News)
Spike Klein: Drums
Tom Bowers: Bass
Lauralee Brown: Vocals
Jon Mitguard: Pedal steel, harmonica, dobro
Tim Sarter: Bass
Greg Gaylord: Drums (Check out his website: www.drumsolo.cc)
Kristen Wells: Vocals, guitar
Mark Collins: Drums
Don Conolly: Drums
Ned Gray: Drums
Brent Rampone: Drums (Member of New Riders of the Purple Sage)
Gus Garelick: Fiddle (Member of Sonoma Swamp Dogs)
Dave Zirbel: Pedal steel (Member of Trailer Park Rangers)
Steve LaPorta: Drums (Drum dept. manager at Haight Ashbury Music in S.F.)
Brian Jones: Bass (Not the dead Rolling Stones guy!)
|
|