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Jo Ellen | George | Bill | Patrick |
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
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