Welcome to the Brombies

The Brombies are from Los Angeles, California where they are prominent musicians in the recording studios and the bluegrass scene there. They've all played with many bluegrass and country music musicians over the years including The Bluegrass Cardinals, The Laurel Canyon Ramblers, Vince Gill, Laurie Lewis, Desert Rose Band, Byron Berline and many others. They've been playing together since 2005 and play all over the United States. The band places a lot of emphasis on their vocals & harmonies and presenting their original bluegrass songs along with the traditional music of "the Masters". They all feel that music can be a major contribution of positive energy in our world and it's gotta be fun or "forget about it!"
As individuals, each band member has a long list of credits and as a band they are
rapidly becoming a much sought after traditional bluegrass band. Although The Brombies might be considered a new band by bluegrass standards, they've all been performing as successful musicians for too long to even mention. They perform all over Southern and Northern California in many venues, Concerts in the Park, all the local Bluegrass Clubs, church picnics, church services, house concerts and private parties. They've performed in many of the California festivals and into Arizona & Nevada as well. They've been honored to perform in the IBMA Songwriters Showcase, they were winners in the bluegrass & gospel categories of the Merlefest Song Contest in 2007 & 2009; they've also taken part in the IBMA After-hours Showcases in Nashville for the past 3 years.
Rhonda Vincent has recorded one of Jo Ellen and George's songs for her new CD, "Destination Life". On the Bluegrass Blog she talks about a few of the songs on her new CD, including Jo Ellen and George's "Anywhere Is Home When You're With Me".
http://www.thebluegrassblog.com/rhonda-vincent-destination-life/
By the way, their name The Brombies (Brumbie's) are the wild horses that roam the outback of Australia who were brought there by Jack Brumby in the late 1700's. After several years of performing under their name, they found out they'd misspelled it, but decided to keep it anyway.

There are links at the bottom of this page that have information on The Brumby's.

Jo Ellen Doering
Acoustic Guitar, Lead and Harmony Vocals

Jo Ellen was born in Pittsburg, Kansas way back in the 1900's. She first played guitar at 10 years old when her Mother taught her some chords; her Dad also played guitar and both her parents played piano. She grew up singing old time music with her Mother and sister in church, on local TV and the odd barndance around town in San Diego, Calif. Piano lessons were added later and as a teenager she began playing the 5-string banjo, along with other friends in the San Diego area who had discovered bluegrass; friends such as Bernie Leadon, Kenny Wertz and Chris Hillman. The local San Diego music community was rich with players and performers who all benefited from the atmosphere of The Blue Guitar and The Land of Oden. The Blue Guitar was the local guitar shop owned and operated by the founders of The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, Ed Douglas and Larry Murray. The Land of Oden was the local folk-bluegrass club where she began performing. After the girls quartet that she sang with returned from a 5 month USO Tour in 1964, including Viet Nam, she moved to Los Angeles. For many years she played in all the local folk music clubs, including the Troubadour, The Ice House & McCabes. A brief stint in Hoyt Axtons band, then traveling with The Smothers Brothers & Ricky Nelson, brought more interesting adventures. When she met George and they married 29 years ago, she hung up her traveling shoes. They began making music together, performing around town and writing music for documentaries; most notably The Adventures of The Old West, which was narrated by Kris Kristofferson for Disney. Now, it's bluegrass with The Brombies and time spent with their furry animals in the piney hills of Hollywood. Check out some of Jo Ellen's stories on this website.

George Doering
Mandolin, Lead and Harmony Vocals

George was born in Alton, Illinois. His Father started giving him piano lessons at the age of 5 and when he was 7 he decided that he had to have a guitar; which was bothersome to his classically inclined parents. For years as a young fellow he was fortunate to play in many bands with the local musicians in Escondido, California, including Pete Harrison. Somewhere in there he tried Irish Dancing with his sister Susan, which wasn't too cool at that time. He became Jr.High School President by promising Coca Cola in all the water fountains. In high school he played any instrument that the marching band needed; like glockenspiel and flute, even snare drum. He tried studying music at San Diego State College for a year, but he wanted to get out there and play not talk about it! When he moved north to Los Angeles he brought with him a VW Van full of stringed instruments, an accordion and a determination to succeed in the music industry. A few years on the road with performers like, "Sonny & Cher" and "Seals & Crofts" cured him of the traveling bug. Finally, all those years of practicing guitar began to reap some benefits. These many years later he is a very successful studio musician who is sought out for his ability to read the written music but make it sound spontaneous. If you wait to the bitter end of many movie credits, you'll often find his name listed there. He is also listed in the credits of many popular CD's. Although he can play anything with strings, for the past few years he's enjoyed the challenge of bluegrass mandolin. For sure, his favorite thing to do is play bluegrass with Jo Ellen, Bill & Patrick or to be at home with Jo Ellen, his wife of 29 years.
P.S. His twin brothers still have that van.

Bill Bryson
Acoustic Bass, Lead and Harmony Vocals

Bill was born in Evanston, Illinois, but calls California his home. Bill has a long list of credits in his wonderful career of playing and singing bluegrass and country music. He started playing bluegrass and old time music in the early 60's, then joined and recorded with The Bluegrass Cardinals and Country Gazette in the mid 70's. He was an original member of The Desert Rose Band with Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen. He's played with so many people we can't list them all; but we'll mention that he has several CD's with Ry Cooder, The Laurel Canyon Ramblers, Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen, Bluegrass Etc. (John Moore & Dennis Caplinger), and The Dillards. He's had some of his original songs recorded by many people, including Jerry Garcia's "Almost Acoustic Band". Currently, he still travels and records with Chris & Herb, Bluegrass, Etc. and The Laurel Canyon Ramblers. If he's in town, you can find him playing bluegrass every Saturday night for the past 18 years at Vincenzos in Valencia, California with "The Grateful Dudes". We are very glad to say that for the past four years, if Bill's in town, he'll be playing and singing with The Brombies. Bill now lives in Monrovia, California with his long time, lovely wife Annie and their Golden Retriever, Bucky. Bill, Annie & Bucky volunteer with the Pasadena Humane Society in the Companion Animal Program taking Bucky to visit retirement homes and convalescent hospitals, bringing joy to many. Here's a very interesting side note: Bill also plays gut string, fretless banjo, clawhammer style! Hey, try to say that real fast.

Patrick Sauber
Banjo, Guitar and Harmony Vocals

Patrick is a California native, born in Arcadia. Patrick may only be in his early twenties, but he's already a veteran performer in old-time, bluegrass, folk, western, and other musical genres. He is exceptionally gifted on the Cajun accordion, mandolin, guitar and banjo. His first musical influence was his dad, old-time Master fiddler & claw-hammer banjo player, Tom Sauber, who he still performs with often. He also plays with many other bluegrass bands including Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum. Patrick has recorded with many artists including: Richard Greene, Christ Stuart & Backcountry, Dirk Powell, Skip Gorman and many others. He's toured with The Limeliters & original member Alex Hassilev. In 2003 Christopher Guest asked Patrick to be the banjo player in The New Main Street Singers in the folk-music satire movie, "A Mighty Wind". Patrick also plays on the soundtrack CD from that movie. He also toured with the cast of Mighty Wind, performing the music from that movie. We're just happy that he finds some time in there to play and sing with The Brombies.

Special Guest Herb Pedersen
Banjo, Guitar, Lead and Harmony Vocals

Sometimes we are fortunate to have the opportunity to play with Herb Pedersen if Patrick is booked with another group. For those of you who are bluegrass fans, I hardly need to list Herb's accomplishments, but for those of you who do not know who he is, let me list just a few: With Chris Hillman and Bill Bryson, Herb formed Desert Rose Band; then with Bill, The Laurel Canyon Ramblers. Chris Hillman and Herb perform often together with Bill Bryson on bass. Also, over the many years he has recorded and/or performed with artists like Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, David Grisman, Johnny Rivers, Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Jennifer Warnes, John Prine and Jesse Winchester. He is first call for banjo on recording sessions in Los Angeles. From Carnegie Hall to the Ryman auditorium, Herb's been on the scene since the early 1960's and enjoying every minute of it. You can go to his own website to read further about his many accomplishments at: http://www.herbpedersen.com

The above photos were taken by Richard Wedler
www.microfence.com
microfence@aol.com

Who are the real Brumbies / Brumby's?
If you're interested, check out the websites listed below.
http://www.savethebrumbies.org/
http://www.brumbywatchaustralia.com