Andy Mason

Award-winning New Mexico children's musician Andy Mason brings his educational, interactive and fun musical performance to the Cleveland Millfest. Andy, from Portales, NM, will have the audience dancing and singing along to his songs about Pizza, Burritos, Sharks, Pirates, Owees and Hand Washing!

Offering songs in English and Spanish, Andy Mason brings a little of New Mexico to each of his performances. Andy also offers workshops and keynotes for educators throughout New Mexico and Texas. Emphasizing the importance of music in the education of children is a very important aspect in Andy's workshops.

Andy Mason's music has been nominated for a New Mexico Music Award. Andy currently performs regularly in 15 local pre-schools in Eastern New Mexico and Texas. Andy tours throughout the Southwest every summer visiting libraries in NM, TX, CO and WY. Andy has toured in the United Kingdom and Iceland. Andy's "A Brief History of Christmas Music" program is sponsored by the New Mexico Humanities Council and keeps Andy on tour from the end of November right up until Christmas.

Andy's family-friendly music keeps the attention of children and adults alike, who will no doubt come away from Andy's show having learned something too.

For more information, contact Andy Mason at (575) 693-9641 or email
kewsdad@hotmail.com. Downloadable photos and media kit available online at www.andymasonmusic.org

Sabor: Cuban Street Music. Bio not available.

Los Zapateados: This New Mexican and Mexican Folk Dance Group consist of members from the Mora and Las Vegas, New Mexico communities. Los Zapateados use only authentic costumes and dance fold dances from Mexico and New Mexico. Lori Bovia heads this group: She has studied dance in Mexico City under the tutelage of various instructors: Together with her husband, she has performed with the Ballet Folklorico of San Antonio and the Ballet San Jose in Waukegan, Illinois.

Dr. Noel H. Pugach received his M. A. and Ph.D. in United States History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of New Mexico where taught for 38.5 years. He continues to teach courses at UNM in the area of specialization, United States Foreign Relations and Jewish History. Dr. Pugach has published three books and dozens of articles and book reviews. He is the author of eight studies of Jewish Pioneer families in New Mexico. He has written a short essay in memory of David Salman and is now researching the Mama Lucy Gang in New Mexico politics. He lectures widely and does Chautauqua-style impersonations of Harry S. Truman, Lew Wallace, and John Steinbeck.

Boris and the Salt Licks consists of Boris McCutcheon who is an American songwriting rogue with a dark sense of humor. His alternative country/soul sound bounces a roomful of dancers. His festival appearances strike like lightning, creating new fans and pleasing his cult followers.

From Ojo Sarco, New Mexico, McCutcheon lives off the grid, writing when he can catch a break from pruning fruit trees and managing the local acequia.

According to the critics, McCutcheon is a writer of "unhurried ballads and twangy hits with a rail yard twist." His take on things: "introspective genius, slightly ominous, and full of wonderment. "

McCutcheon has been awarded and honored for his songwriting. He was the Southwest Regional winner of the Mountain Stage NewSong contest in 2008. He's won the Boston Music Awards and the New Mexico State Fair singer/songwriter contest. His albums, including the newest "Wheel of Life (2011)" have each been European chart-toppers. This year he has headlined the Blue Highways festival in Utrecht, and will headline again in November at the Moab Folk Festival.

His rocking, tight band, the Salt Licks, features multi-instrumentalist Brett Davis on banjo, guitar, and lap steel; Susan Hyde Holmes on electric and acoustic bass; and New Mexico legendary keyboard man Kevin Zoernig, on accordion, Wurlitzer, and an assortment of other electronic devices.

"SEA - Sound Explorers Association":

The group "SEA - Sound Explorers Association" is composed of 3 talented individuals with diverse musical backgrounds and experience. This collaboration has resulted in a performance repertoire that encompasses an extraordinary range of musical styles and expressive energy. Their programs include selections from folk, blues, bluegrass, jazz, Brazilian choro and samba and classical genres. Many of their unique arrangements include improvisation. They also include original vocal and instrumental compositions that reflect the members' varied musical backgrounds.

Carl Bernstein was born in Detroit, Michigan. His early music studies included violin and piano. At the age of sixteen he concentrated his attention on the guitar. He has studied with some of the world's most renowned guitarists including Andres Segovia in Spain and Julian Bream in England. Carl graduated with a major in music from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He has been a professional musician since the age of eighteen. Between 1972 and 1978 he traversed the Caribbean and Latin America where he performed extensively, including over sixty concerts sponsored by the U.S. State Department. For the past 30 years Carl has been living in New Mexico where he performs regularly in a wide variety of venues. In addition to his regular solo classical guitar concert performances he has been a member of a wide variety of classical, jazz, folk and rock ensembles. Carl has been a guitar teacher for over 40 years. He has taught privately, at the K-12 level, and at Colleges and Universities. A few years ago he retired after serving for 20 years as a member of the music faculties at New Mexico Highlands University and the United World College. Recently he spent 6 months in India, where he performed extensively. Five albums of Bernstein's music in both solo and ensemble formats have been recorded and released. His 2010 solo release of Never Too Late contains selections from the classical guitar repertoire as well as original instrumental and vocal compositions. Carl's wide range of performance styles enhances the rich mix of "SEA".

Scott Atchley spent his youth in Flint, Michigan. He began his musical carrier on the guitar at the age of 15 as a performer of folk, rock and punk music. He became captivated with the mandolin after seeing Bill Monroe & Sam Bush perform at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival almost 25 years ago. Several years later, Scott bought his first mandolin and began to teach himself traditional fiddle & bluegrass tunes. Since then he has studied under the likes of Butch Baldassari, Mike Compton & Andy Statman. Scott has travelled throughout Mexico & Central America, mandolin in hand, performing & learning many styles of music. He sites musical influences from Bach to Bill Monroe to Brazilian Choro to Bebop. Scott lives in Las Vegas, NM where he teaches mandolin, guitar & ukulele. He has been a member of "SEA" since its inception and loves using the mandolin to express the diversity of the group's repertoire.

Marilyn Priddy is a native Texan. After receiving musical training since early childhood, she began her professional musical career at the age of 18. For 2 years she had a successful folk duo in Austin, Texas. Moving to Houston, the duo continued performing together and also expanded into a 5-piece rock & roll/blues band that performed extensively for over 10 years. Marilyn then moved to Montreal, Quebec for 6 years and there pursued her love of jazz as a member of a jazz trio. After moving back to Texas she began to write original songs, which were influenced by her background in jazz, blues and lyrical folk. Relocating to New Mexico in 2001 she continues to write and perform original material. Marilyn currently resides in Las Vegas, where she teaches piano and vocal students. For the last 3 years she has performed as jazz vocalist with the world-renowned alto sax player, Richie Cole and his Las Vegas "Alto Madness Orchestra". As an original member of "SEA", Marilyn's beautiful vocals and instrumental performances on cello and percussion bring great richness to the group.

Rachel Leon: Born in Arkansas, raised in Northern New Mexico, Rachel León - voice major from New Mexico Highlands University - is a performer, teacher and has taught in Taos and Questa High Schools. Artist, Wife and Mother, Grandmother - resides on Leon's Ranch in Cerro, NM. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist - follows traditional folk music most - studied Mariachi - performed at various venues in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado - Directed High School Mariachi Groups in Questa and Taos, and now teaches music in San Luis, Colorado at Centennial High School.

Accompanied by: Ronnie Vigil, guitarist, songwriter, singer from San Cristobal, NM. Musician, Classical Guitarist, Ron Vigil is master teacher and performer of Latin Jazz, Classical and Folk Music.

James Michael (Mike) is a western singer, songwriter and entertainer. Mike grew up in a rodeo family and many of the western songs Mike performs were learned from cowboys and cowgirls who played and sang to entertain themselves while camped at the "rodeo grounds" between performances. Mike began performing at rodeos and county fairs as a teenager and has sung and played his guitar for audiences large and small all across the west. Currently, Mike schedules most of his performances in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. He performs at cowboy poetry and music gatherings, museums, fairs, house concerts, private parties and public events throughout the year. When he isn't traveling, Mike spends his time in Las Cruces, New Mexico or at the family ranch in Southwestern Colorado.

Liz Painter: A singer-songwriter who calls the mountains of New Mexico home, Liz Painter is a poet with a heart to bring what she has to say to the world. After touring her last CD, Home Before Dark (2007) with her full band in Texas, Arizona and Colorado, Painter jumped right back into the recording process.
Now having just released her second album, What if, her contagious melodies have hit the airwaves. With a catchy tune she poses the question, "What if all the thoughts in your mind… were just a little more kind?" Painter has a fresh quality and a strong and sensitive vocal presentation that at times is reminiscent of the tender voice of Joan Baez. Painter's songs move around from sultry and provocative to funkified. She most often performs with her full band with a cutting edge folk- rock style rich in harmony and rhythm. Yet, her songs stand alone telling her stories even when she plays solo piano and guitar or with one other band mate.

Lorenzo Martin Trio

Lorenzo Martin "Marty" Martinez' first musical influence was his mother Ida Segura-Martinez who, while doing her housework, sang the show tunes she had learned from her experience working for the Howell's at the Taos Plaza Theatre in her youth. Also impacting and stirring his musical interests was Hit Parade, a variety musical black-and-white television program. Next on the cue, Rosanna Anaya, his first-grade teacher, Carolina Dominguez, second grade, and Josefina Martinez, third- and fourth-grade teacher all had a profound and lasting influence in his musical development, singing American folk and patriotic songs on a daily basis, most of which he still remembers "by heart." Mrs. Dominguez taught him "Cielito Lindo" and "(Alla En) El Rancho Grande."

Lorenzo Martin started playing guitar in 1962 when is oldest brother, Gabriel Andres, came home from basic training at Fort Smith, Camp Chafee, Arkansas, with a five-dollar guitar. He picked up the guitar and played "Mary Had A Little Lamb," on the first string, figured out how very simple it was to find the pitches to (almost) any melody, on any instrument, and the rest is history!

Lorenzo Martin started with American folk music, learning Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary songs by the dozen. He played, probably, the first "Folk Mass" with Arsenio Cordova's choir at Our Lady of Guadalupe, in 1964, and continued to play in church until 1990 when he resigned from his "job" as choir director.
One day, his father, the late Onesimo "O.G." Martinez, Jr. came home with two LP albums chucked full of romantic boleros, Hello Amigos, by the Ames Brothers, and Usted, by Los Tres Diamantes, a gift from Tia Teodora Montaner de Martinez, and opened up the big beautiful world of Latin music. After hearing the jazz chord progressions in the Latin music, it was not difficult to abandon "three-chord" folk music. Lorenzo then latched on to the folk music of Mexico, the ranchera, which is a cross between Country and American folk music, but in Spanish.

In 1969, Lorenzo Martin flunked out of the University of New Mexico, got drafted and sent to Vietnam, where he spent all of 1971. Although he flunked out, he did acquire incredible knowledge of the guitar and Latin music. In 1970, while attending advanced infantry training at Fort Ord, CA, he kept a guitar in his locker and serenaded his platoon to sleep at night with beautiful instrumental Spanish guitar.

In 1983, Martin was released on vinyl LP. Lorenzo Martin was not to record again until, as their guitarronista, Mariachi Rio Grande came out with its own album on cassette, Tesoros de Mariachi Para Nuevo Mejico. Except for working as a "(recording) session player," Lorenzo Martin did not do any serious recording until December 2004 at the request of his spiritual teacher Satgurudev Sat-Anandaji. After having recorded four albums for Mountain Institute, he "got the fever" once again, and that is how the idea for Talento Local - Volume 1, was born in 2008.

The Talento Local series is a way of giving back, acknowledging local vocalists and about making (recording) dreams come true. At least 10 of the 13 singers in Talento Local - Volume 1, would never have gone into the recording studio to "cut a record" in this lifetime. It is, greatly, about doing what your love and doing what you are good at. As a result, some of the participants in Volume 1 are already planning to do their very own albums, and, are ready to participate.

Nick Branchal - Nick was born in 1954, in Ocate, New Mexico.
He began his first band in Taos at the age of twelve, playing a variety of Rock, Oldies, Country and Western, and Spanish music.

His talents paid his way through college, where he graduated in 1978 with a Masters Degree from New Mexico Highlands University.

He began teaching music and, in 1981,became the founder of Taos High School's Mariachi el Tigre, which he directed until his retirement in 2003. The group produced three recordings, "Mariachi el Tigre", "Mariachi el Tigre Dos", an "Mariachi el Tigre Tres".

He has served as director of NMHU Mariachi Vaqueros de la Sierra and began the first mariachi, Maria.chi Corazon del Valle, at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado.

He also came out of retirement in 2004 to direct the high school group Mariachi Questa.
Throughout this time, he has contiued playing at a professional level, recording "Recuerdos" and "EI Andariego" by Nick Branchal y La Banda de Oro, and "Tesoros de Mariachi para Nuevo Mexico" by Mariachi Rio Grande.

Luis Madrid: Bio not available.

The Virginia Creepers have been playing old-time music in New Mexico for 20 years. Past winners of the Old Time Band Contest at the Santa Fe Traditional and Bluegrass Music Festival, they play tunes and songs that range from the Civil War era and earlier to newer pieces in the old-time style.
The current line-up features three founding members: Rick Olcott on guitar, Steve Huestis on clawhammer banjo, and Scott Mathis on mandolin and guitarron, plus Laurie Phillips, who joined the Creepers in 1999, on mandolin, and Jane Phillips, new this year, on fiddle. The band members have a combined total of over 150 years of musical experience. Based in Albuquerque, they play around NM and beyond for dances, parties, and festivals, and as soothing background music for the quiet patrons of saloons and taverns. You can find them online at www.thevirginiacreepers.com.

BUSY McCarroll & the Ambassadors of Pleasure

Busy McCarroll:
Vocals & Guitar
Award winning New Mexico Recording Artist.
Vocalist, Songwriter, Producer & Artist.
Received numerous awards including;
'Best Album of 2000' from NM Music Awards
'Best Song' - Piece by Peace 2009
Board member of 'Arts Culture & Entertainment Task Force' for the County of Santa Fe.
Artist in residence with 'PHAME' - Director of shows and musicals for people with disabilities and special needs.

Busy has one daughter, Alana, who is the new owner of Embudo Station restaurant.
She loves playing music, her garden, painting and Hawaii!

Kevin Zoernig:
Keyboards, Accordion, Theremin, Melodica and a zillion more instruments.
Kevin is an award winning Musician, Arranger & Producer. Creator of the College of Santa Fe's Contemporary Music Program. Re-builds Mercedes Benz and Pianos.
Kevin is a great Dad to his 5 kids.

Justin Bransford:
Bass, music instructor. Justin is a versatile musical prodigy.
Justin plays in some of the best bands in Santa Fe, including; Sol Fire, Moby Dick, Ambassadors of Pleasure
Justin a wonderful Dad to his daughter, Grace.

Baird Banner:
Drums, background vocals.
Owner and builder of Kludgit Sound Recording Studio in Cerrillos village, NM.
Baird has received numerous awards for engineering on recording projects.
He recently started his own independent sound system & recording studio design and installation company 'VAST'.
Baird loves coffee, his daughter, Alana, his wife, Busy and their 3 dogs & 1 cat.

Masizo is made up of 3 Mora area natives, Darrell Chavez, Edmond Romero, and Antonio Sandoval. In their own words:

"Darrell Chavez started learning music when he was 11 yrs old after his family moved to New Mexico from Denver, Co. Throughout his school years he continued practicing many instruments which included the Guitar, Drums, Bass among others. Later he jammed with various bands and even released a single entitled "Out on the Streets Again." After a coincidental meeting (with the other band members) he is currently playing the drums with Masizo".

Edmond Romero: "I started playing with my dad Roberto Romero age 9. He played Violin; I played Guitar and my brother Arthur Bass. All my brothers are musicians. Around 1986 we formed the Romero's Band. We played for school benefits, etc. I joined the Corazon's del Norte from 2001-2008. At present I am with Masizo. We play for weddings, anniversaries, graduations etc."

Antonio Sandoval: "Born in Las Vegas, NM. Raised in Turquillo, NM. he graduated from Mora Independent Schools 1983. Learned to play music from my father and uncles. Instruments; Guitar, Drums, Bass, Keyboard, etc. Played music since I was 8 yrs old and moved on to play professional music with different bands, such a the Unknowns, Lumbre, Banda Flor, Romero's, Rudy and the Veletones, Los Corazones del Norte and now Masizo. Two Cd's have been put out with Los Corazones Del Norte. I have played with Masizo for years and still going strong and will continue to play as long as god lets me."