|
about the band:
The BeatPickers are a contra/folk dance band featuring me on fiddle/mandolin, Adam Schumaker on guitar, Joe Van Riper on
keyboard, and either John Nell, or Wayne Schell on bass. We play mainly New England style music, but a lot of our tunes were
originally old-time or irish. We have played for dances at Farley's Music Hall in Elsah, IL, Tom Anderson's Barn in Urbana,
IL, the Phillips Recreation Center in Urbana, IL, the McLean Town Hall in Mclean, IL, the Monday Club in St. Louis, MO, and
the Trout Lodge in Patosi, MO.
band history:
The original BeatPickers included me, my sister, Erin, and Adam Schumaker. I guess I could start out by saying that Erin
and I both began learning violin when we were 3 y/o. Erin has had strictly classical music training for her entire life, but
I, on the other hand got bored, and switched over to "fiddle" music. I think I was most inspired by my experiences
at the Cumberland Dance Camp in Kentucky, which is thanks to my Aunt Fran for dragging me there in the first place. We went
there for four years in a row before we decided to start organizing dances in Elsah, where I live. It was also then that I
decided to try and get a band together to play for the dances. That was about two years ago (2002). Like I said, the original
BeatPickers included me, Erin, and Adam: I played fiddle, Erin played keyboard, and Adam played guitar. Erin and I were used to it from going to Cumberland, but Adam had no idea what to
expect. We met him at the Principia College in Elsah because Erin and I went up there to play in the orchestra, (he actually
lives in Ann Arbor, MI, but he's a student at Principia). Adam played trumpet in the orchestra, but I had also seen him play
guitar, so I decided to ask him. He had never heard of contra dancing, but agreed to try it, and luckily, he fit right in.
So we played for dances in Elsah every month, and when the word got out, we even got invited to play at dances in Missouri,
and different areas of Illinois. Unfortunately, after the first year, Erin left to go to a music conservatory in Philadelphia,
so we had to find a new musician to replace her. Luckily, we found Joe, another friend from Principia. He agreed to play piano
for us. We also found Wayne Schell, a musician in Jerseyville who was willing to play bass, and a friend from Wayne's band,
John Nell, who agreed to switch off with Wayne. In the past, some of our replacement musicians, or guests included Mike Brown,
a bass player for Stringdancer in St. Louis, Travis "Slim" Reynolds from Kentucky, on guitar and banjo, Don and
Sylvia Coffey from Kentucky on hammered dulcimer and bass, and Christine Drescher from Georgia on folk harp.
|
