“Snake” Harris… initially became a ‘Dobro’ fan back in 1994 when they ‘discovered’ Charlie Moore who was winning all the Dobro contests and performing at Darden’s Farm in Mapleton, NC (his and Sarah’s favorite hangout).   Coupled with listening to ‘Oz’ he developed a love of the original ‘old’ style, which is a perfect match to his traditional country style vocals.  In 2000 he heard Pete Smith pick a red and gold Beard reso at the Cabin Fever Pickin’ Party (Williamsburg, VA)…bought it…Pete took him under his wing...and so launched another Resonateur.  In 2005 Sarah offered to buy him a new Reso if he’d agree to compete in the National Championship Competition in Todd, NC…so, there he was with his new ‘R’ vintage birch model.  He began brainstorming his innovative contoured wood grip reso-bar in 1999 and began production in 2003…with a growing backlog of orders.  If you’re ever around the Ridgeway Opry House (Ridgeway, NC) on a Saturday night, stop by, say ‘hey’ and be entertained by “Snake and the Rattlers”

Mark Clifford and Beth Bartley…the Canadian branch of the ‘Resonateurs.’  A great addition with Mark’s pyro-technic improv guitar matched up with Beth’s classic, blues and swing violin styling.  First Mark…got his first guitar at 10 years old, performed in a band at 11 and it’s been music ever since.  Beth got a ‘late’ start on the violin at 12 (started on piano).  Both were musically trained in music in Universities in London, Ontario.  Met at a crowded festival in 1980, started performing together a week later…and will have their 25^th wedding anniversary in June of this year.  John Dopyera met them at the Trnava Slovakia ‘Dobrofest’ in 1998…while backing up Doug Cox (Canadian Dobro).  John invited them to a Gathering, and they now attend anytime their schedule permits…they traveled directly from Gathering 2004 to Ireland for a month of pub performances, concerts, etc. Current events, Elderly Music is preparing to feature their latest CD “Vox Violins” and they are again scheduled to perform at Dobrofest 2006 (Slovakia).

Carlene Economy. retired a couple of years ago and decided to take up a musical instrument.  Being a fan of the Carter Family she bought an autoharp and went for it…then while visiting Mountain View, AR, happened upon Gene Wilson reso-jamming in ‘the Square’…immediately changed horses…and it’s been dobro ever since. Next is sort of an ‘Outer Limits’ type story but she swears it’s true.  Her husband Tom plays bass and guitar and she convinced him they needed a music room so that the instruments could be kept set up.  Pulling out all the instruments, she noticed a dusty case in the back of a closet, opened it and…Tra Laa...Tom’s forgotten dobro from twenty years previously.  Still tuned up to pitch.  It’s about a seven hour drive from Dallas to Mountain View, but worth it to have Gene teach her the ropes.  A local instructor told her the best way to learn is to become ‘immerged in pickers and watch,’ so along with Gene’s encouragement decided to attend her first Gathering.  Quoting Carlene, the dobro ‘really melts my butter’ and likes all styles but prefers when a dobro is doing the old style crying stuff.  She likes the instrument  “…to sound like a dobro…not a Banjo” (don’t we all!)

Don Dombrowski, has been sliding the bar for about 30 years but has only focused on the acoustic reso for the past year.  While performing with the Hank William Review for a six week gig, the pedal steel was kept set-up on stage…so to pass the time in the dressing room, Don raised the strings on an acoustic guitar and started experimenting.  Coming from a western/country steel guitar focus, he worked with Beard who converted a Flinthill into a seven string (Flinthill has a wider neck) in order to make use of a G6 tuning.  If dropping an ‘E’ string right in the middle of the neck wasn’t enough, Don added the complication of raising the low ‘B’ to a ‘C’.  This gives a tuning (low to high) of G,C,D,E,G,B,D.  and makes a C chord available at the G position.  Keeps busy on the pedal steel, performing with the Cattle Cruisers, Hank Williams Review, and recently passed the 40 performance mark with the ‘Always Patsy Cline’ show at the 2500 seat Warner theatre in Erie, PA.  A long time native of Erie, Don passes the time between gigs as a fabricator for a glass supply company.
 

Bob McEvoy.  Born in the farmlands of Ohio, Sept. 14, 1943.  With the influence of his Brother-in-Law who played fiddle and a Multi-Chord steel guitar in a round and square dance band, bob started taking steel guitar lessons at age 13 from Ron Dearth (a companion of Jerry Byrd).  Like a lot of pickers, interest waned when he came out of high school and it wasn't until years later (approximately 1990) when he attended a show at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, DE that Jerry Douglas exposed him to the Dobro.  Fired up, he acquired a stainless 1970's Dobro followed by his current guitar built by Michael Terris in 2001.  Current! because Bob has just made a deposit on a Sheerhorn.  Now the looong wait.  Bob and Frank Maxfield stumbled into each other during a Tim Graves workshop and convinced each other to a attend a Gathering in 2002, and have been involved ever since.  In addition to singing, Bob has been the reso-picker in the 3/4 Ton band for the past two years.