Welcome to the Brombies

The Brombies are a Los Angeles, California band that was formed by Jo Ellen & George Doering in the late 1980's. All of the musicians have played music of various kinds all of their lives, but traditional bluegrass is their music of choice. With Bill Bryson (Bluegrass Cardinals, Laurel Canyon Ramblers, Bluegrass, Etc. & Desert Rose Band) on bass & vocals, Patrick Sauber (Laurie Lewis, Mighty Wind cast & band) on banjo & vocals, Jo Ellen on guitar & vocals and George on mandolin & vocals you have a magic combination for exciting, traditional bluegrass. All of the band members are prominent musicians in the Southern California recording and bluegrass scene. 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". As individuals, each band member has a long list of credits and as a band they are rapidly becoming a sought after traditional bluegrass band. Although The Brombies might be considered a new band (5 years) by bluegrass standards, they have all been performing as successful musicians for too long to even mention. George & Jo Ellen were winners in the Bluegrass & Gospel categories for the Chris Austin Songwriters Contest at Merlefest in 2007 & 2009. They've also been honored to perform in the IBMA Songwriters Showcase in Nashville. The Brombies perform all over Southern & Northern California & the Western States in all the festivals, (Blythe, Parkfield, Grass Valley, Huck Finn, Summergrass, Lake Havasu, Prescott, Tucson, Battle Mountain, Topanga, Julian, etc.) many different venues, Concerts in The Park, private parties, church picnics & church services.
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 Brumbie'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, Hazel Mountain 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.

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