Bill Acosta, Bass
Bill is from a hard core New York City housing project where he discovered Jimi Hendrix and Cream. By following these artists, he learned of their influences and became a fan of Muddy Waters and the "Kings", Freddie, BB and Albert.
Bill has worked with many bands in New York City and upstate New York. His bass-playing influences include Duck Dunn, Willie Dixon, Francis "Rocco" Prestia, Jack Casady and Chuck Rainey. He has worked in several bands with fellow member Ken Hughes over the last 30 years.
Tom Brumley, Harmonica, Vocals
Tom lived in Colorado from 1978 to 1990 and started playing harp live with Big Head Todd & the Monsters in the 80's while attending the University of Colorado in Boulder.
You can hear him playing harp on some of Todd's earlier live recordings at JJ McCabes and The Glen Miller Ballroom. After playing with Todd for about a year, he left and formed Red Beans & Rice.
Red Beans & Rice was an acclaimed blues & rock band that played in Denver, Boulder, and the Pacific Northwest.
He then moved to San Diego where he lived for 3 years and played with Fred Heath and Tomcat Courtney in the Slidewinders. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York and has done session work with several bands in the past few years. His harmonica playing can be heard on Mike Rechner's 1998 CD entitled Adjective and on Savage Patty's 2000 CD entitled Savage Patty
Marc Copell, Drums
Marc Copell has been performing as a professional drummer since age 13 with a wide variety of shows, lounge bands, society jobs and creative musical ventures in jazz, pop, rock and world beat styles. He received a BA degree in music performance from Buffalo University and a masters Degree in music education from Queens College. Currently he appears on Ron Mesa's recently released, self-titled cd. He can be seen performing live with Eddie Kirkland and the Bobby Kyle Band.
Ken Hughes, Guitar, Vocals
Ken Hughes has been listening to blues guitar since 1977
when he first heard Eric Clapton's recording of Have You Ever Loved a Woman? on the Layla album.
Since then he has learned to play repertoire from Jorma Kaukonen, Mike Bloomfield, and Robben Ford who he cites as his primary influences.
Using a Fender tube amplifier and a Gibson 335, Hughes enjoys the vintage tone for many of the bands' renditions of classic material.
Caren Wright-Shilling, Electric Violin, Vocals
A native Long Islander with her heart in Queens, electric violinist Caren Wright-Shilling started playing violin at the age of 2, and joined her first orchestra in 1st grade. She toured Asia and Europe as a teenager with the Long Island Youth Orchestra. She played out with various orchestras in NYC, on Long Island, and in Delaware.
Caren found her way to blues and rock going to jams when things were rocky at home. Since then, she has performed with numerous bands throughout Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, as well as upstate New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She plays blues, rock, country, klezmer, and classical.
Bands Caren has appeared with include both original and cover bands such as The Rob Crowe Situation, Copperline James Taylor Tribute, Gotcha Covered (Classic Rock), The South Bay Drifters (rock & blues), The Shilling and Martin Experience (blues & Rock), Double Dose Hot Tuna Tribute, Rusty Spur (Country), Strangemagic NYC (ELO Tribute), and Uncle Don’s Band (Grateful Dead)
Gut-wrenching harmonica playing, howling whiskey ballads,soul-filled blues guitar and fiery fiddle.
