As an exciting part of the Freight's educational program for traditional/roots music, "closet musicians," grouped into bands, have been busy this fall honing their performance skills in a weekly series of Take the Stage band performance workshops created and directed by Nell Robinson Music.

Tonight's performance showcases two bands—Redwing and 'Bout Time—from the workshops' advanced track for existing bands, coached by Laurie Lewis.

RedWing plays traditional and old-time country music, with a warm, fun flavor. The band features seasoned musicians Alan Dreyfuss (guitar, vocals), Red Rick Horlick (mandolin, vocals), Bob Johnson (dobro), Polly Frizzell (fiddle, vocals) and Dale Scott (bass).

‘bout Time!, recently featured in a cover story in the Palo Alto Weekly, brings traditional bluegrass music to coffeehouses, farmers markets and community events in the South Bay and Peninsula area. The band, Linda Williams (mandolin, vocals), Gail Reese (fiddle, vocals), Pete Hallesy (banjo, vocals), Mark Searles (guitar, vocals), Mike Omodt (guitar), and Dave Williams (bass, vocals), has a rich vocal style and features duets as well as traditional three part bluegrass harmonies.

Tonight's opener, Dan Mills & Wendy Molin, have been making music together for almost three years, focusing on fine duet harmony singing in the bluegrass, old time, and folk traditions. They've each been making the rounds of California festivals and jams for considerably longer than that. For Dan & Wendy, singing is about more than just the music. It's something to look forward to every day, and an integral part of their relationship.

The goal of the advanced workshops is to help existing bands get to the next level of musicianship, refining arrangements, vocals and harmonies, and performance skills. Check it out for yourself: next time it could be you on the stage!

For information on future workshops and shows, please contact hilary@nellrobinsonmusic.com and see our workshop page.

Visit the Nell Robinson Music website