John Knutson
was born in Fort Knox Kentucky in 1951 and raised in Virginia. Being just old enough to remember the birth of rock’n roll in the late fifties, and just young enough to have caught the tail end of the big band era in the late sixties, he was witness to two overlapping worlds of American music, culture, and mythos. On account of that, he spent most of his adolescent years driftin’ from genre to genre.
Had it not been for the timely 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival and his love of music and guitars, John might never have realized his true passions, nor managed to fuse them into any reasonable means of support or livelihood. As it were, he founded Knutson Luthiery in 1981 and has been a full time guitar builder and part time professional musician ever since, writing songs and playing his own hand-crafted instruments in live performances and recordings. In pursuit of his craft he has single-handedly built over 350 of his custom designed instruments for discerning players around the world, and continues to produce fine instruments out of his Forestville, California shop.
John defines his experience of seeing the Duke Ellington and Count Basie Orchestras, Big Joe Turner, B.B. King, and innumerable other blues, folk, and jazz roots players in the late sixties as his most important musical reference point, and he has lived on a steady diet of tritones ever since. This notwithstanding, he freely admits he’s not living in the past, and can readily appreciate pretty much anyone who can carry a tune and honestly manifest inspiration or spirit into their music and an audience, which is what this is really all about anyway.
David Grisman
followed roots music from New Jersey to the Southeast, playing with The Even Dozen Jug Band, Red Allen and the Kentuckians and others. A disciple of folklorist Ralph Rinzler, David contributed to the vibrant Greenwich Village folk scene and later moved to the Bay Area, recording American Beauty with the Grateful Dead and forming Old & in the Way with Jerry Garcia. Grisman attracted brilliant musicians, and the 1976 formation of the David Grisman Quintet revolutionized acoustic string music. He has played with many of his heroes, from Stephane Grappelli and Svend Asmussen to Jethro Burns, Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs, and his friendship with Jerry Garcia produced a cherished legacy of recordings. Today he tours regularly with his Sextet, Bluegrass Experience Band and FolkJazz Trio. David’s fifty years of playing, composing, and producing attest to his indomitable creative spirit.
Bill Fouty
was born in Burbank California in 1950. In his early years, he studied the double bass with the legendary Nat Gangursky, and performed with various small chamber groups and orchestras throughout Los Angeles County. Also, while in Southern California, he graduated from the Dick Grove School of Music where he studied theory and composition as well as improvisation and ensemble playing. Since relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1978, Bill has worked with jazz duo, trio and larger group formats with many fine bay area musicians, including The Susan Comstock Swingtet, guitarist Carl Vast, Susan Sutton Trio, and pianist Terry Henry.