PHILL MORLEY

Phill has been into bluegrass music since 1968. At the age of eighteen he got his first banjo and went ahead trying to learn to play the thing. After a few years of struggling to learn to play (and wearing out many records and players) he eventually learnt the basics of the style. In the mid 70s he put together a newsletter The British Bluegrass & Old Time Music Journal BB & OTMJ which later he and Jan Jerrold changed to British Bluegrass News which is still going strong today. During his busking days, in the 70s & 80s, he was approached by a few people wanting to learn to play bluegrass banjo. So he started to teach and within a few years he started to put his own books and audio lessons together, (the first books were all hand written). Today he still teaches and has a mail order system as well as teaching on a one to one basis. Through the years he has got many a banjo picker started and has built up a wealth of bluegrass musicians and wonderful friends. In 1982 he visited the States and was honoured to play at festivals and some radio stations and once more he was teaching at festivals out there! He has played with lots of different bluegrass bands, done some TV & radio jingles, and even played with a country band for about 15 years, playing guitar, steel guitar and banjo! Nowadays Phill teaches banjo, basic guitar and some basic mandolin. He teaches at festivals and schools as well as his one to one lessons. For eight years he produced a quarterly magazine dedicated to bluegrass and old-time banjo, THE BANJO GAZETTE. He learnt to call for barn dances and added this to WET PAINT, which goes out as WET PAINT BARN DANCE BAND. In WET PAINT. Now with the band name change to BROADOAK BLUEGRASS BAND,  he plays guitar, banjo and sings lead and harmony as well as organising the bookings, sound system and general dogs body!! In his spare time he likes to eat, drink and get a few hours shuteye!!  You can find more information and Phill's full bio on his banjo lesson site http://www.bluegrassbanjolessons.co.uk

RICHARD LEE

Richy started playing banjo at an early age of six. Phill gave him an old banjo just so he could strum away with Phill. Within a year he mastered a few tunes and then Phill let him use a better banjo (that he still has today).

In a Country band he would play with Phill on stage when the band would have their breaks. At the age of eight he performed with Phill at the Preview Club (see Photos), Southend, Essex, UK, where they did a 45 minute performance.

At the age of thirteen he was asked to play banjo for an Appalachian Dance Team, Scrambled Leggs. Within two weeks of joining them, he wanted to learn to do the dancing too. He did and was soon choreographing their dances. Since then Richard has toured europe playing in various places in the Czech Republic, Germany and Holland along with many UK Festivals. He not only plays banjo well but, he can pick up most stringed instruments and get some good results as well as keyboards and percussion.

In the band he also sings lead and harmony vocal plays banjo and guitar. He also teaches banjo  (but he won’t teach Phill as he takes too long!). Is there no stopping this guy!!!

CHARLIE OGUNREMI

Chris Horne, a banjo playing friend, asked Charlie to join the band he was putting together. Charlie wanted to learn to play the fiddle but the deal was he would have to play mandolin!
"Chris told me to listen to two albums we had - Frank Wakefield 'The Rounder Album' and 'The Best of Bill Monroe' it was a good choice and I decided to become a mandolin player"
Charlie bought the Jack Tottle Bluegrass Mandolin method book and a £60 Harmony mandolin which his son Callum now plays. A year or two later in 1978 Charlie bought an Antoria F5 copy which he still has. Chris called his band "The New Seeds of Grass" they played around the Bedford area for a while.
Charlie joined two of Chris's brothers to form the 3 piece band "Chiltern bluegrass" they played further a field and one year played at the Edale Bluegrass Festival.
In 1984 Charlie went on a pilgrimage to America to meet Mr Bill Monroe. "By then I was a real Monroe fanatic, and meeting him was a real high point. Also I must have played three different Lloyd Loar mandolins, but not Bill's unfortunately".
Charlie stopped playing Bluegrass for a while, got married and taught himself to play piano and keyboards. The idea was to experiment recording the mandolin with synthesised backing but Charlie found himself playing keyboards for local bands in the Biggleswade area where he was living. "The mandolin started to spend a lot of time up in the loft, but it never took long for me to get back into the swing of it."
In 1999 Charlie decided to see how the Bluegrass scene was getting on. He found his mandolin playing had not suffered and later joined John Pearman's 'East Anglian Bluegrass Boys'. Charlie also plays with his local band 'Dave Nixon and route 66'. Charlie plays mandolin and sings lead and harmony in the band, a very verstile musician to have on board!

MARK TURNER

"The big fella at the back". After making lots of things with wood he decided to give Double Bass a try and is rockin' us along. . . .

Mark joined us in 2011 but has been playing various bluegrass instruments since 1996. He has become a "fully pledged bluegrass bass plucker" and is loving every minute on stage, adding his "Turner Touch" here and there.. . . .  and everywhere. Watch and listen to him when he we do "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke"!  Mark is so laid back but, when it comes to the band he is the backbone, spot on and rockin' ;)

RACHEL EYRES

Our  prettiest member of the band, Rachel came from a very musical family and started learning the violin when she was 6 years old. She studied violin and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow where she developed an interest in Scottish fiddling.