Artist description Five piece old-time string band with fiddles, banjo, accordion, guitars and bass

Music Style Old-Time

Musical Influences String Bands of te early 1900s and music of the 1960s.

Artist History THE WONDERBEANS were based in Brooklyn, NY. They recorded one LP for FLying Crow Records which is out of print. Those recordings plus some additional material have been reissued on CD by BLUE WIND MUSIC. The CD is called THE WONDERBEANS,BEANSPROUTS.

Group Members Art Friedman - vocals, fiddle, banjo and spoons; Jim Garber - vocals, mandolin, fiddle, autoharp, spoons, bass Kathleen Giampetruzzi - vocals, guitar and bass; Louis Giampetruzzi - vocals, guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo and accordion; Ann Weiss - fiddle.

Instruments fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass and accordion

Albums THE WONDERBEANS, Beanssprouts

Press Reviews Reviewed by SingOut magazine Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine Issue: Fall, 2001 THE WONDERBEANS Beansprouts Bluewind 101 Back in the late 1970s and into the '80s, a number of clubs in New York City featured Bluegrass and Old-Time music as a regular part of their bill of fare. The Good Coffeehouse, the Eagle Tavern, and the Town Crier as well as street fairs and festivals offered the finest local and national names in traditional string band music. The Wonderbeans were a part of that vibrant scene and Beansprouts features recordings made in New York City in 1978 and 1981 along with a few recent selections to update us on the members of the band. The Wonderbeans featured Lou Giampetruzzi on vocals, guitar and mandolin, his wife Kate on vocals, guitar and bass, Jim Garber on mandolin, bass, fiddle and vocals, Art Friedman on fiddle and banjo and Ann Weiss on the fiddle. The beauty of Beansprouts is not the instrumental and vocal virtuosity of the band but rather in the heartfelt interaction between good friends playing music they dearly love. Keep in mind this is not hell-bent-for-leather North Carolina old-time music we're dealing with here. Beansprouts is more like a laid back excursion on the Circle Line tour of fiddle and song from the Southland to the Great Northeast. Just a glance at the selections on this generous 26 track CD indicates the variety of music the Wonderbeans featured. Traditional old-time fiddle tunes like "Jaybird," "West Fork Gals" and "Shoo Fly" reside comfortably beside the more Celtic-inspired "St. Anne's Reel," "Gaspe Reel" and "Morpeth Rant." All these tunes are tied together with vocal selections, some well known as "Your Long Journey" and "Curtains of Night," and more obscure as "Gypsy's Warning" and "Georgia Railroad." The Wonderbeans are to be commended for not trying to sound "southern" in their vocal nuances. They seem to understand that a good song is just that no matter where its geographical roots may lie. To bring the circle round the listener is given a glimpse of the more recent activities of some of the band members. It's great to know that Kate, Lou, Art and Jim are still writing and performing wonderful music. We also learn that Ann Weiss is healthy and happy living in Chicago with her two children in a house filled with music. Old-Time music was once alive and well in New York City and Beansprouts reminds us of how talented the Wonderbeans, were and how well their music has survived all these many years. Tom Druckenmiller

Location Brooklyn, New York - USA

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