THE BAND Here are the musicians that regularly perform with me: Dana Martin (guitar & vocals) Dana was born in Alice, Texas to a family that moved often. He began singing when he was nine years old and found music to be a constant in his life no matter where he lived. After a brief encounter with the trumpet, he fell in love with the guitar and taught himself to play at age 15. A man of diverse musical interests, Dana has been performing over half his life in variety of genres including country, rock and contemporary folk. He began focusing more on song writing in college where he began performing his own material. A talented musician, Dana was a founding member of the bands, AOB, Country Skies and Memoirs of Ashton. He performs with Sarah Dinan on guitar and vocals.  Alexos Ebbets (fiddle & vocals) Alexis grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida. She earned a Bachelors of Arts in Music degree from Florida State University and a Masters degree in Violin Performance from the University of Texas. Her involvement in the UT String Project furthered her training to teach violin to others.  She attended the Frankie Kennedy School for Irish Fiddling in 2003 and has performed with bands such as Barco and with master fiddler Liz Knowles.  She also attended the Henry Mancini Institute in 2005, where she performed jazz and film music with Bobby McFerrin, Patti Austin, Alan Silvestri, Doc Severinsen, and many others.  This past summer, she was a part of an international music festival in Viana do Castelo, Portugal.  She currently has a violin studio of thirty students at Blackerby Violin Shop in Austin, Texas and performs with Sarah Dinan on fiddle and vocals. Nick Mitchell (percussion & vocals) A South Austin native, Nick grew up immersed in the contemporary and old time American folk music traditions.  He began making music at an early age singing with the Austin Boys choir and playing piano. At age 12, Nick began his definitive relationship with percussion under the tutelage of Austin artist, Brian Sebastian.  Nick began performing Celtic music when he joined the Silver Thistle Pipes and Drums Band playing first the flourishing tenors, then bass drum and snare. He has traveled extensively with Silver Thistle competing both nationally and internationally. Nick is currently pursuing a degree in Ethnomusicology with a performance concentration in percussion at the University of North Texas College of Music. There, in addition to the performance of classical music, he pursues his interest in the folk percussion traditions of Cuba and Brazil as well as Indonesia and India. Nick’s ventures into the more “eardrum friendly” Celtic traditions have been completely self-taught and his activity in world percussion adds an eclectic flavor to all his acoustic performances. Nick currently performs with Sarah Dinan on percusion and vocals. Photos by Tyler Buttrill