Album Notes

In 2003, David Gerow (mandolin), Don Henson (percussion) and Mike “Cheddar” Schmitt (bass) met on a musical project in Flint, Michigan.

One by one they were fired from that project. Meeting up again in Portland, Oregon, the trio began writing original tunes and reinventing covers that showcase its unique instrumentation.

Mandolin player David Gerow began his musical career at the age of 11, as a percussionist in the school band and budding songwriter. After adding trumpet and guitar to his repertoire, David began piano at 15. A professional musician since he was a senior in high school (having toured, as an adult, with both Clay Walker and Wade Hayes), David first picked up a mandolin ten years ago. It was a fortunate meeting: mandolin’s become his instrument of choice, a tool that sings like a human voice, wails like an electric guitar, and expresses every color and mood in between.

Percussionist Don Henson was thrown out of piano lessons as a child because he encouraged the other students to focus more on their own original compositions than the lessons they were fed. (He wrote his own first song, “Tea and Rice,” when he was five years old.) Undaunted, he continued to play and compose on the piano, exploiting both its melodic and percussive possibilities, its potential for simultaneously channeling heartbreaking lyricism and defiant noise. A musician with wide-ranging passions and experience, Don brings an embrace of all things musically provocative to his work in Sneakin’ Out. Listen for him on the bongos, party favor, African slit drum, glockenspiel, rain stick, typewriter...and the tambourine his grandma gave him.

In 1994, bassist Mike “Cheddar” Schmitt decided it was time to leave Denver and the corporate world in search of a musical future in Portland, Oregon. Within three days of his arrival, Mike had met Don Henson and started down the path that has led to his work in Sneakin’ Out. Originally a drummer, Mike has added bass playing to his musical skillset, anchoring the band with a technique that is equal parts gracefulness and firmament. Mike loves having this opportunity to share music created from a place of joy for any and all listeners.

Recorded at Mississippi Studios and co-produced by the band and Jim Brunberg, "Opera Tuna Teen Ox" (aka OTTO) is Sneakin' Out's first all-original effort. Conceived as a soundtrack to a movie which doesn't exist, OTTO showcases the band's unique instrumentation and the aural sweep which that instrumentation makes possible. From the twangy stomp of "A Faerie's Call to Arms" to the synchronized propulsion of "Rumours of Wars" through the epic surge of "Ars Nova," the band displays its signature post-apocalyptic electro-acoustic throwdown.

Sneakin' Out mandolinist David Gerow, batterie-of-percussionist Don Henson and bassist Mike "Cheddar" Schmitt are joined on the recording by guests including James Dineen, Lisa Molinaro, Eugene Gray, Kina Muir and Jim Brunberg.

“Sneakin’ Out sends audiences into paroxysms of surprise and delight...A winning combination of chops and charm...Watch listeners’ synapses pop to the combination of novel instrumentation, familiar melodies and surprising juxtapositions.” -The Oregonian

“New grass meets new wave...A trio of infinite possibilities...Try to put Sneakin’ Out in a box and you’ll inevitably end up contradicting yourself.”'"Just Out

“They’re a three-man symphony: David Grisman meeting Michael Jackson in the house of Erik Satie.”
'"Eugene Gray, Eugenio’s Kitchen

"Melding thrilling musicianship, creative arrangements and sheer audacity, it's obvious these guys are headed for big things."-The Flint Journal