Combine five of today's hottest West Coast instrumentalists with original material and a high octane bluegrass sound and the result is Due West, a Bay Area-based group that is quickly making a name for itself on the national music scene by combining the innovations of West Coast new acoustic music with a bluegrass rhythmic drive rarely heard west of the Appalachians. Guitarist Jim Nunally is one of the best bluegrass guitarists in the world, lighting a rhythmic fire under many of the most important West Coast bluegrass bands (David Grisman, John Reischman and the Jaybirds, Dix Bruce & Jim Nunally) and recordings of the last several years. Banjo player Bill Evans, known for his work with David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, the Bluegrass Intentions, and Peter Rowan, occupies a unique niche in the banjo world, celebrated for both his traditional and progressive styles as well as his original compositions. His latest album Bill Evans Plays Banjo was named one of the Top Ten Bluegrass Recording of 2001 by the Chicago Tribune and was on the Bluegrass Unlimited Top Ten charts for four months earlier this year. Add to this mix the award winning mandolin playing of Due West co-founder Erik Thomas, the phenomenal bluegrass and long bow fiddling of Chad Clouse (another David Grisman veteran) and the rock solid support of bassist Cindy Browne, who has played with everyone from Wake The Dead to Mel Torme, and the result is an original sound that joins traditional to progressive in a way that reminds the listener of both Flatt and Scruggs and the New Grass Revival. Look for their debut project to be released in early 2003