musicians
Andy Sicard
Andy is the creator and founder of the Goodtime Stringband. He is a multi-instrumentalist who has been performing with regional roots music and bluegrass bands for the past ten years. Born and raised in the Boston-area, he attended UMass Lowell as a music major but eventually graduated with a degree in art.
Andy was the recipient of a 2007 New Hampshire State Council on the Arts grant that enabled him to study bluegrass mandolin with famed Monroe-stylist Skip Gorman. Andy also plays the upright bass and bluegrass banjo, but never at the same time (so please don’t ask him to do this).
He has a “black belt” (tho not the karate kind), and is a lover of domestic light beers.
Bob Sevigny
Bob is the band’s co-founder. He is a Massachusetts native that has been playing guitar in numerous string bands in the Northeast region over the past decade. A self taught musician that has played music for more than half of his life, he has become proficient at bluegrass, old time and swing rhythm guitar. Bob has played at many of New England’s notable music festivals and has shared the stage with the area’s finest musicians.
Bob has “dreamy” eyes and is probably the strongest guy that you know.
Alley Stoetzel
Alley loves to sing… and she’ll sing just about anything (including this bio if you ask her). Alley attended the Berklee School of Music, where she majored in vocal performance. She recently released her sophomore album, titled What We’ve Been Up To, which is a mix of both original material as well as covers by Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Rihanna (yes, Rihanna, appalachian style and it’s great!).
Alley also has a fondness for aged whiskey, new sneakers, and good old fashioned mando pickin’.
Laura Smith
Fiddle wiz Laura Smith is a west coast gal who likes petting dogs, making pies and winning fiddle contests (like CA State and the Western Open – even top 5 in the Nationals!) She’s graduating Berklee College of Music this May and can’t wait to focus on bluegrass full time!
Favorite drink: Rye whiskey. Favorite color: Gold. Favorite tune: All of them!
Adrienne Howard
Growing up in a musical family that emphasized folk and classical performance, Adrienne began playing box and sponge violin at the ripe old age of three. Since then, her musical spectrum has expanded to the fiddle, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy.
As a teenager, Ms. Howard was involved in the local punk rock music scene. She attended the University of Indiana and studied French, art history and comparative literature. (Note: we’re not exactly sure what this comparative literature business is all about.). On the fiddle and mandolin Adrienne mostly balances her time between the Irish, French Canadian, Breton and Old-time traditions.
In 2001, Adrienne made the second best decision of her life moved to Massachusetts. Elle parle français.
GOODTIME EXTENDED FAMILY
Jess Fox
Jess Fox has been playing the violin since the age of six, with a brief hiatus in college in favor of the baritone saxophone. She grew up in Minnesota, where the parking is plentiful but the winters are dreadful cold. Jess migrated to Boston to attend the North Bennet Street School, where she studied violin making. She adores old -time music in all its forms, especially a good, crooked, modal fiddle tune.
Jess absolutely loves the barter system and once traded a pair of folding bicycles for a pan of brownies and winter pond-skating rights. She might fix your fiddle in exchange for a nice bottle of scotch.
Liz Lawrence
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Liz has been playing guitar since age 11, and began studying with the famed Buddy Charleton (Ernest Tubb’s steel player), at the age of 15. Liz’s musical prowess extends beyond the pedal steel guitar. She can also produce musical sounds with guitars, bassoons, clarinets, saxophones, ukuleles, dog toys and nose whistles. She is the founder and sole proprietor of Root Note Studios in downtown Lowell, MA, where she teaches and shares her love/knowledge for all things musical.
Alice Malone
Alice is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and has studied violin since the age of five. Fine art studies at Brown University brought her to the East coast and ultimately the Greater-Boston area. In 2012, Alice returned to the group after a year of teaching (foul language) abroad.
A stint as a National Park Ranger in the forests of California helped Alice develop chain-saw wielding skills that should make you nervous. Her baking skills are unrivaled in the old time musical community.
Corrie Jones
(a preacher’s daughter) was raised on hymns and a capella spirituals in the church. Later, at about 12 years old, she started listening to and singing along with early Bonnie Raitt albums. Miss Jones is a recovering musical theater buff and for a time studied theater at NYU. It was during college that Corrie was lured into the bluegrass music, and, subsequently, classic country music.
Co has an amazing shot glass collection from her childhood and can eat grapes and oranges like nobody’s business. She’s currently teaching abroad.
Aaron Cross
Aaron Cross grew up around New Haven, CT. He began violin lessons at the age of four, and has been playing ever since. While a music major at Carleton College in MN, he fiddled with the bluegrass band The Last Known Whereabouts. Back home in New England, he’s once again able to look after his two cacti, which miraculously survived his absence.
Aaron is looking to buy a quality pogo stick. Do you have one for sale?
Spencer Breunig, Esq.
Spencer is a self-taught multiinstrumentalist who has been playing in bands throughout the New England area since he was a teenager. He plays guitar, mandolin, harmonica, and fiddle. He has written, recorded, and performed music on a regular basis throughout his musical career and is best known for his work on the soundtrack for the Concord River Greenway Project documentary.
Spencer will provide sound legal advice in exchange for a good “Knock, knock…” joke.
Davina Yannetty
Davina Yannetty is a piano teacher and performing musician who grew up on the mean streets of East Boston. She began playing piano at age five and since then has gained proficiency on a host of other wacky instruments including melodica, ukulele, French horn and kazoo. She has studied at Berklee College of Music and has been performing professionally since the age of seventeen.
You can sometimes find Davina playing hilarious, comedic, original songs accompanied by Ferruccio (her acoustic-electric ukulele)
Kirsten Lamb
Kirsten Lamb is an upright bass player and vocalist who moonlights as a clawhammer banjo player and viola da gambist. Originally hailing from the widely under-appreciated state of New Jersey, she grew up in a musical family and was exposed to an eclectic varitey of music from an early age. She graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied bass and Ethnomusicology, and currently lives in Boston. Her ability to play her instrument is surpassed only by her ability to maneuver her instrument through large crowds and up tiny stairwells.
You can sometimes find Kirsten hiding in trees thinking up new recipes for delicious vegan pastries.
Here are some press clippings for your reading enjoyment!
Click here to see The Goodtime Charlies bluegrass jam as featured in the Nashua Broadcaster
Click here to read an article about the Goodtime Charlies published in the Nashua Telegraph (August 2005)
Nashua Hippo Article “Home-grown hangouts: Cool music without the long drive”
Click here to read an article/interview Andy wrote about Mike Holmes and Banjo Camp North
