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Bios
Band Bio - From the music scene of Georgia comes 16 Tons, a hard-driving band playing bluegrass and mountain music. 16 Tons is led by Andy Martin on banjo & vocals, a veteran of the Georgia bluegrass scene. The band also features John Evans on guitar & vocals, Bryan Varin on mandolin, rhythm guitar & vocals, Rich Mullinax on upright bass and Brian Connell on guitar, harmonica and vocals.
Frequent guests include David Blackmon on fiddle & mandolin, Hal Misseri on mandolin & vocals, John Nipper on mandolin, banjo & vocals, Marcus Bramblett on upright bass and Kaitlin Jones singing her originals.
16 Tons is often retained for fund raising events and other private functions as their backcountry sound makes them a great asset to any occasion, especially those with a southern or rural theme.
Andy Martin, Banjo & Vocals - Andy has been picking banjo for 25 years. He hails from Tifton, GA. His family moved from Kentucky to South Georgia just before he was born...so Andy is proud to announce that he was born and raised in Georgia, the most beautiful state in the country - but he was conceived in the Bluegrass State!! Andy has long been a fan of the straight-ahead sounds of the more traditional sides of Bluegrass Music (Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, and Flatt & Scruggs). Some of his favorite "newer" bands include Blue Highway, Hot Rize, and The Del McCoury Band. Sounds that moan, cry, or "drive like a steam locomotive" are what Andy enjoys. He lists his favorite banjo players as Earl Scruggs (of course), J.D. Crowe, Peter Wernick, Jim Mills, Bela Fleck, and Bill Keith. Vocal influences are Carter and Ralph Stanley, Jimmy Martin (by the way..."Why isn't that man in the Country Music Hall of Fame?"), and the incomparable Lester Flatt. During daylight hours Andy is a mental health therapist. He mentions the late great John Hartford as a musician he respects for his originality, talent, and pure ability to entertain by just being himself. Andy's hobbies include tinkering with banjos, playing golf, cooking, and arguing with himself about questions that have no answer. He hopes to begin learning to play the fiddle in the near future.
Bryan Varin, Guitar, Mandolin & Vocals – Bryan first developed a love for bluegrass music while listening to his parents pick during their weekly Wednesday night jam sessions while growing up in Huntsville, Alabama. It was during this time that he began playing guitar and was able to join in the sessions with his parents and their friends. Although he has continued to play guitar throughout the years, it wasn't until moving to Athens, GA and meeting Andy Martin that he rekindled his love for playing bluegrass. With Andy's guidance and teaching, he developed his rhythm guitar skills, has even discovered his singing abilities, and most recently has taken up the mandolin with a vengeance. Bryan played his first "real" gig as a member of "Andy Martin and Friends" on New Year's Eve ’03 / ’04, which led to the formation of "16 Tons". Currently, he is a chef at the University of Georgia and is thoroughly enjoying his second job as a member of "16 Tons".
Rich Mullinax, Upright Bass, Vocals – Rich was born and raised in Virginia in a house full of music, having 2 older sisters that are accomplished pianists. The whole family was heavily involved in the music programs at church and school. He played drums in a marching band at age 9 and started playing guitar at 14. As a kid he heard bluegrass bands in the Washington D.C. area such as The Seldom Scene and the Country Gentlemen, but he didn't become a fanatic until he started listening to Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers, John Hartford, Sam Bush and the Del McCoury Band. Although a passionate bluegrass fan for years, it was not until the summer of 2003 that he actually began playing bluegrass. While listening in on jam sessions in and around Athens, he noticed that the jams often lacked an upright bass player. He purchased a used bass, took a few lessons from local bluegrass veterans, started showing up at the jams and jumped in. In addition to 16 Tons, Rich plays upright bass for Short Road Home. He has a day job as a manager for Series International, a Bogotá, Colombia based manufacturer of seating for performing arts halls. He splits his time between Athens and Miami. .
John “Johnny Fabulous” Evans, Guitar & Vocals - John was born and raised in the North Georgia Mountain town of Ellijay, where he learned flatpicking guitar & mandolin by mistake. The youngest of 23 children, John was lavished with a lot of attention, mostly by his older sisters. The family was so poor they couldn’t afford Cabbage Patch dolls, so his older sisters used to dress John up like a doll and force him to host tea parties with teddy bears, Barbies and a partially dressed, quadriplegic GI Joe. He managed to escape the worst of these “episodes” by hiding under the canvas of an old fishing boat. Once he ran out of other things to do while in hiding, …... he discovered that someone had left an old Martin D-18 under the canvas and had forgotten about it. The rest is bluegrass history. John lives in Seattle with his wife, Monica and his twin boys, Monique & Unique. He also has a home in Salt Lake City that he shares with his wife, Sandy, and her children from a future marriage. He spends most of his free time sneaking into strangers’ carports and hiding under their boat covers. He likes quite walks on the beach and has learned not to let the bass player write his bio for him.
Brian Connell, Guitar, Lead Vocals & Harmonica - Brian hasn’t had a chance to write his bio yet and is getting dangerously close to having the bass player write it for him. Check out his solo project at:
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