Finnders and Youngberg has been busy! I’ve not had time to chronicle our adventures like I’d like to have, so I’ll attempt to sum up our Winter and Spring so far for you guys, and give a little sneak peek into what’s coming up for FY5.
Last week was the fabulous Pagosa Folk and Bluegrass Festival in Pagosa Springs. This was our third year in a row of running the adult bluegrass camp in the days preceding the festival, and we had a great time working with all the lovely people who sign up year after year. The bands did a great job with their performance on Thursday afternoon. Here’s a photo of the order for the bands, and their names.
After the camp was the bluegrass festival, and we were honored with the kickoff spot, Friday night, as well as a FY5 “and friends” set later that evening featuring us playing with so many of our bluegrass buddies who were on hand, including Jordan Ramsey, Taarka, Matt Flinner, Jake Schepps, Gregg Daigle, and Front Country.
A few weeks before most of us were at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM, teaching our annual Ghost Ranch Bluegrass camp. Ghost Ranch is a special week, and 2013’s camp was no exception.
Our new EP is nearly finished. Expect it soon. We have been performing the new songs out at our gigs, so, if you’re excited for some new songs, like we are, then make sure to catch us out on the road!
We’ve been playing some cool gigs this spring after a slow and creative Winter. Here’s a house concert clip from our friends Rachel and Brian at Five String House Concerts just last month.
The band continues with balance in their lives as well. Aaron and Erin are busy parents of baby Ramona, as well as recording engineers and ornithologists, respectively.
Erin sits on the board of the Trailblazer Foundation, a grass roots community outreach and empowerment endeavor presently working in Cambodia.
Rich plows forward as an entrepreneur with he and his wife, Wren’s, natural pet food business.
Ryan has relocated effectively to New York City with his lovely new wife, Kristin, where they are both living musician’s lives in the big city, when he’s not on the road with FY5.
Mike teaches private music lessons and sub-teaches about the schools. His daughters, Emma and Clara, are in their teen years and Mike’s beard grows grayer by the day. In addition to bluegrass in schools and other educational outreach endeavors, Mike teaches a weekly bluegrass jamming class in Lafayette, CO, as well as an intermediate guitar class, and a kid’s guitar class in Longmont.
This summer has the band back on the road in some hot giggin’ action. Iowa/Illinois in June, Tours through Washinton and Montana, as well as all the way IBMA in Raleigh North Carolina in September.
Thanks so much for stopping by the site and we really look forward to seeing all of you out on the road this summer. Make sure to check our calendar for a gig near you, as well as news of our new EP.
Oh, yeah, please also like us on Facebook.
Peace to All!
-Mike Finders, and the rest of the gang.
