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Rousting acoustic pickin' accompanied by sweet voices make The Rusty Strings a bomber combo in this day and age. Add a heaping helping of camraderie and you get an inimitable blend of kindred spirits generating rootsy ethereality. Their sound rings true. Fatally flawed relationships, comedic truths, road trip fantasies, the arcane and banal, the dark and unknown, are a few of the maxims woven through the songbook of The Rusty Strings. But don't let all these fancy words scare you. As anybody who has been to the show can tell you, they host a great party!
Since early 2005 The Rusty Strings have been harkening back to a bygone area of boxcars, whiskey, and workin' with steam power all the while thriving in the freshness of the present moment. Characterized by high lonesome fiddle and banjo on top of time honored harmonic structures, the band's sound makes the elders tap their toes, the younguns get up and dance and everybody else just have a great time.
Jenni Charles, fiddle and vocals. Jenni explores the nether regions on the fingerboard of her fiddle to desecrate sonic territory in a manner never before experienced by the human ear. She is not just badass but by default the sweetest and most down home Rusty String in the universe. In her sparse spare time, she enjoys doing all sorts of stuff!
Kurt Beckering, banjo and vocals. Kurt was raised on the south side of Chicago, and loves the Cubs more than life itself. His nomadic lifestyle, combined with his prodigious talent for songwriting, make him a truly remarkable human being. He recently returned from Timbuktu where he learned to polish his guitar with sand. He is currently residing on The Grid. Or is he?
Kerry Andras, bass and vocals. Kerry is a hardcore Northern Californian. He has spread his love throughout Sacramento, Chico and the entire Sierra Nevada region, from Mammoth Lakes to Mount Shasta. He also loves Mali because he spent two years there working his ass off to make life better for the locals. Consequently, he gets his money for nothin and his chicks for free. From age 9, he has been obsessed with rocking and rolling. He is a multi-instrumentalist: mandolin, guitar, bass, violin, and theramin are just a few weapons from his sizeable arsenal. Every once in a while in the wee hours, he has been known to channel Sir Elton John.
Tyler Johnston, guitar and vocals. Tyler is originally from the sweet sunny south. Over the years his gypsy lifestyle has led him as far south as Saskatchewan and as far north as Tierra del Fuego. Some of his earliest musical influences as a wee tyke were the radio hits du jour playing while he tested the cigarette lighter on the back seat of his dad's Oldsmobuick. It soon followed that he co-founded the influential hardcore group Napalm Injection. The rust is history.