Artist description Sweet vocal harmonies, hot fiddle, and eclectic taste mark this band's adventure into the acoustic music realm.

Music Style Acoustic Music

Musical Influences Bill Monroe, Waybacks, Cache Valley Drifters, Rufus Thomas

Artist History The group evolved from a regular Bluegrass jam session into a more creative and far-reaching group. In 2003, they played at the Wild Iris Folk Festival.

Group Members The Acoustic Group Briarwood, named after a famous street in Bluegrass heaven, the Rue de Briarwood in Paris, France, consists of five musicians hailing from different geographical and musical backgrounds. Their eclectic musical selection is a product of the interaction of their diverse ears - Craig has long Scotty ears, while Chris has cute little nurse ears, Joe's ears are hardened to the sound of young twins, and Rachel has young punk ears (without all the holes). As a result, in a Briarwood performance, one might hear Bill Monroe segue into Rufus Thomas into Keith Richard into Iris DeMent into Trad R. Briarwood. The ever-so-cute Chris Finn does a lot of singing and plays a mean mandolin and ukulele. She has studied with Jack Tuttle and Trad. R. Briarwood. A long-time Californian, she says, "dude" a lot. The frighteningly attractive Craig Sutherland is Briarwood's front man and guitarist/vocalist. He loves microphones, and has at least one in every room of his house. Craig is the author of the "Doctor Dean" song, as heard on the Doctor Dean Edell Show on April the 8th, 2002. The surprisingly romantic Topher Gayle plays a bunch of instruments, at a whim. Sometimes he even plays them at audiences. Sometimes, he fills in on mandolin, mandola, guitar, and ukulele, but most of the time it's bass - he's a Jack of all strings, master of none. He really likes to abuse genres, so watch out for the occasional funk or soul tune coming out of his instruments. The youngest member of Briarwood is teen idol Rachel Rosenberg, whose fiddle and voice are not in the least inhibited by her age. A stern task-mistress, she is the only one who can keep both Craig and Topher in line simultaneously. Rachel's been playing classical violin since she was knee-high to a fiddle bow, and has studied bluegrass fiddle with Jack Tuttle and the ubiquitous Trad. R. Briarwood. Papa Joe Buczek is the father of twin three year-olds, which is why he's gaining weight and his hair is turning gray. Every banjo or Dobro note he plays is precious to Joe, and he makes them all count. Hailing from the undecided state of Florida, he brings a certain authentic cracker sound to the band. He plays ukulele and a bunch of other instruments too, but with the Briarwood gang, he only plays the heavy ones.

Instruments Acoustic instruments of all sorts.

Additional Info As heard on the Doctor Dean Edell Show!

Location San Jose, CA - USA

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