Whistling Rufus

When I joined the Randy Bandits back in 2003, I was immediately taken by the musical abilities of their trumpeter/accordion player/banjo player/mandolin player/background vocalist/drummer Spiff Wiegand. In addition to the fact that he could play a million instruments (as a matter of fact, I thought myself something of a musical jack-of-all-trades... until I met Spiff), he was incredibly humble, gracious, and musically intelligent and sensitive. He is one of my fave guys to make music with.

I may be making this next little bit up, but I think it goes SOMETHING like this: At some point before I knew him, Spiff met Emily Eagan at music dork camp. She is a ridiculously good singer, a great multi-instrumentalist, an international whislting champion (I am not kidding), and, honestly, one of the nicest and most honest and open people I have ever met. At some point she met this guy named Trip Henderson, a NINJA harmonica player who still baffles me with his harp skills and knowledge of Traditional American music. At some point in 2007 or so, Emily, Trip, and Spiff started playing music together publicly. At some point in early 2008 they played a gig wherein a bass player sat in and they really liked the way it filled out their sound and wanted to experiment further. Spiff thought I might be the guy for the job, so they thought it would be fun to have me sit in for just one show, no strings attached (as they say in the world of college hookups). They sent me a list of 734 tunes (ok, like 20 or so) for each of which I found about 926 reference recordings. Ugh. I learned 'em the best I could and showed up to the sweatiest rehearsal of all time. (June in Brooklyn + 4 people in same small room - the air conditioner one might expect = yuck) I think Emily and Trip were impressed by the fact that not only had I learned all the tunes or could pick up on others quickly, but also by the facts that I played upright bass (almost in tune), guitar, and could sing and readily pick out harmonies. We did the gig. We had a blast. I made $23. Their experiment was over and their trio became a quartet.

Whistling Rufus is the best vocal harmony, harmonica, fiddle, ukulele, guitar, banjo, mandolin, accordion, jaw harp, bass, percussion, old time, country, bluegrass, blues, folk group in NYC. I play bass, guitar, sing, and generally have a great time. In addition to the fact that we play a ton all over the place, we also have a regular gig on the second Monday of every month at Parkside Lounge. We don't have a website, any recordings, or even an official mailing list, so I guess you'll just need to come and see us play!