Album Notes

Goldmine Pickers is a young, talented band that draws on and celebrates Americana music traditions, creating original acoustic newgrass music flavored with jazz, folk and Irish influences.

The ensemble of dedicated musicians stands out with original music and arrangements of favorite tunes on guitar, mandolin, upright bass and a fiery fiddle.

Lead vocals are shared smoothly between Simpson and Lapp, with contributions by Kratzer; they "capture the audience" with "really nice, tight three-part harmonies," as described by an on-line reviewer at acousticguitar.com, who also said, "I was virtually stunned at the quality of play at the concert. [And] chemistry and stage presence weighed very nearly as much as musicianship in reasons for enjoying the concert."

The Goldmine Pickers self-titled CD is the culmination of months of collaborative work among the musicians on arrangements of original songs, with seven written by Simpson and one each by Hoffman and Lapp.

The easy-going group was enthusiastically received as the opening band for a sold-out concert by the Del McCoury Band at the Goshen College Music Center's Performing Arts Series and was selected for the Midwest Original Music Showcase in Fort Wayne, Ind., in January. They have performed with Jackstraw as well as the Wayne Hancock band, and highlighted several festivals this season.

Fiddler Sean Hoffman of North Webster, Ind., grew up with a lively family of musicians, including bluegrass pickers. He studied with All-Ireland Fiddle Champion Brian Conway in New York and later joined the Frank O'Connor Band, a trio performing extensively in the San Francisco Bay, Calif., area.

Bass player and vocalist Derek Kratzer is an Ohio native whose influences include folk, gospel, bluegrass and jazz. He studied with Robert Oppelt of the National Symphony and legendary jazz bassist Butch Warren and performed with King Wilkie and Over the Rhine. He also performs with a jazz ensemble.

Jay Lapp, mandolin and guitar player and a lead vocalist, works at TG Music in Goshen and gives instruction in guitar and mandolin. He studied guitar with Matthias Steggman at Goshen College and guitar and mandolin at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. He also performs with the roots-rock band Double Barrel Darrel.

Lukas Simpson, who grew up in Middlebury, Ind., plays guitar, mandolin, bouzouki and harmonica and is a lead vocalist and songwriter. A mandolin and guitar teacher at TG School of Music, he has studied guitar with Brendan Baylis (Umphree's McGee) and at Old Town School of Folk Music. Simpson hosts a program of American and world music on northcentral Indiana public radio music station "The Globe," and hosts the Midwest Songwriters Showcase at The Dembufsky in Goshen, Ind.