Bio, G&F Band

Acclimation to Autumn, etc.

November 1, 2025

The landscape of the Ozarks has been repainted with the seasonal palette of Fall. The mighty herons and the diminutive albeit kinetic hummingbirds have fled south to distant climes. Terrapins, once plentiful along the BRC backyard shoreline while sunning themselves on our floating turtle ramp, have vanished into the deep protective waters of the lake for the coming winter. Festively-costumed children paraded through our neighborhood last night in search of Halloween candy.

While visiting our daughter`s family in Chicagoland recently, she took her Dad on a stroll along the nearby Des Plaines River to observe a solitary White Egret that had not yet fled Southward from the oncoming famous Chicago winter season.

Despite the sun-dappled waters of the meandering River, this magnificent snowy white avian will soon venture South to more temperate environs.

At the family-friendly brewpub for our weekly Sunday afternoon gig, the BRC craftsman recently filled-in on bass while our regular bassist was away for 2 weeks on a fishing trip. He holds his Martin BC-15E mahogany bass guitar (seen below) that he purchased in 2001 when the Martin Guitar Company first introduced an inaugural acoustic bass guitar line that featured an electric pick-up. The BRC musician mellows this four stringer`s tone with nylon strings and a sound hole cover, so it does not compete with the other unamplified acoustic instruments in the band. His bass is channeled through a small amplifier, so its sonic output does not overwhelm our singers.

It is the BRC craftsman`s longtime belief that: a band without a bass is a band without a heartbeat.

From the BRC:  Let the beat go on…..

BRC Events

Another milestone & many thanks

October 18, 2025

The G&F bandleader established his inaugural acoustic music group in 1995 and named it ‘The Bluegrass Jammers.”  Performing at picnics and community events, all tips and fees were donated to the local Childrens Hospital. The band`s generic moniker sufficed until the year 2000 when its name somehow morphed into “The Moonshyne Reunion.” In 2005, the group leader began playing solo Thursday noontime gigs at the Artisan coffee house near the University campus. Slowly but surely, members of the aforementioned jam bands began to join him on stage during these midday performances. Soon, this amalgamated bluegrass band began performing regular weekend evening gigs at the coffee shop and then simply billed itself as “Gainor & Friends”.

One morning in the autumn 2009, however, the Artisan cafe suddenly and unexpectedly closed down. We musicians were literally left standing at the darkened and locked front door with our instrument cases in hand. A new brewpub had coincidentally just opened on a nearby street, and so we trudged up the alleyway to its back door and offered our services to the owners. After a few trial showcase performances, we began playing weekly Sunday afternoon gigs at the family-friendly downstairs brewpub. The band was initially housed in a alcove by the steps descending from the sidewalk to the front door; and despite this crowded venue, the acoustics there were marvelous. After a couple of years, the owners built us a roomy stage overlooking the main dining room where we continue to perform today.

The youthful and generous sketch artist featured in the previous BRC website posting of 9-27-25 entitled “Young Artists Emerge” was photographed on stage with the band by her mother who later kindly forwarded the above photograph to us. The musicians are holding the drawing that each was gifted by the talented young artist who stands next to the kneeling G&F bandleader. These drawings are especially noteworthy to the band, as we have just surpassed the $34K milestone in donations collected for the University of Missouri Childrens Hospital. We G&F musicians are grateful to the faithful patrons and generous owners of the Broadway Brewery for their years of joint support of our local pediatric medical center.

From the BRC: Again, a special thanks to our young artist and her mom for their gifts to us.

Bio

Young Artists Emerge

September 27, 2025

Every Sunday afternoon, the G&F Band performs for our university Children`s Hospital at a nearby family-friendly brewpub. During the lunch hour, curious youngsters come to the foot of the bandstand to dance while their parents happily take photographs. Some of the more adventurous kids will wander up onto the stage to examine our musical instruments and sometimes sing along with us.

Last Sunday, a young listener about age 5 years old spent her lunch hour industriously sketching the band. Periodically, after completing a few drawings, she would step-up onto the bandstand and distribute her works to the musicians.  Over the time frame of her family meal, each band member was gifted two sketches. These playful images surprisingly reflected our music and fellowship.

Our banjoist was among the first to receive such an artwork as seen above.

Soon thereafter, one of our guitarists was gifted an impressionistic rendering (ala  Picasso…?) of his instrument pouring-out music.

Our bass player happily accepted an artful representation of her oversized instrument sprinkled with musical notations.

Lastly, and most importantly, we were presented with the young artist`s perception of our happy faces, while we were pickin` & grinnin` & singin`. She anonymously autographed this final work with “Love,  Friend (sic)” In all, we were gifted with about a dozen of her sketches, and the Mom took a photograph of her talented daughter on stage with us grateful musicians. It was a joyful afternoon for all.

The previous weekend, the BRC founder and spouse visited their daughter`s family in Chicago for the local high school Homecoming festivities. Our talented grandson (seen above center) plays horn in the brass section of the school marching band, and he sings and dances regularly in school theatre productions. This young fellow and his friends decided to dress-up as the “Blues Brothers” for the post game evening dance party.

His grandfather instructed the young musician how to play blues harmonica in preparation for the evening of fun. All ready proficient on a wind instrument in the marching band, the kid proved to be a  “natural” on the blues harp.

From the BRC: Our family tree is blessed with musicians.

Bio

Images & Straps

September 6, 2025

A college chum recently mailed some archival photos to the BRC owner. In those days decades ago, photography was an active hobby for the BRC banjoist, and these forgotten B&W pictures had been developed in his dark room. The vintage images depicted the modest Florida bungalow and flourishing backyard vegetable garden of the young BRC husband and wife. As seen below, a B&W snapshot portrayed the youthful BRC musician playing his long neck Ode banjo that he had procured circa 1972. This open back 5-stringer still resides in his music room, and it offers a mellow and wife-friendly tone especially suited to clawhammer tunes.

The engraved leather shoulder strap seen above was fashioned by the BRC craftsman in the mid 1960’s when he was in a folk music duo with a pal who also enjoyed hand crafting. Nowadays, this strap resides on the mandolin featured in the previous website posting last month entitled “The Mandolin Option.”

Another engraved shoulder strap from that era is on his vintage Gibson Mastertone banjo. These leather straps have been preserved and remained supple over the intervening decades via annual applications of mink oil. In more recent years, however, the BRC spouse has fashioned many splendidly decorated shoulder straps at her sewing machine for her husband’s collection of acoustic instruments as depicted below.

These wide and well-padded straps are valued and comfortable accessories.

From the BRC: Welcome to Autumn.

BRC Activities

The Mandolin Option

August 23, 2025

The BRC craftsman grew up in the Northeast folk music scene. In 1960, he built his first banjo, a long neck 5-stringer, from parts left-over at a fire sale. He later procured a decaying pot-belly or “tater bug” mandolin and performed with it occasionally in a folk music duo. The ancient mandolin eventually crumbled in disrepair.

Years later, the BRC musician relocated to the Southland for medical training where he was also immersed in the surrounding Bluegrass music culture. His professional journey eventually settled him and his young family in Mid-America where he discovered a vibrant music scene. His interest in the mandolin revived, so he purchased one in the early 1990`s from a local craftsman/musician who he befriended in a weekly jam session that convened in the basement of a hardware store. The payment check dated Feb. 5, 1992 still resides in his instrument case as a keepsake.

The luthier personally delivered the hand-crafted mandolin to its busy new owner. With its marvelous tone, the splendidly constructed instrument became the musician`s go-to option when a jam session needed a crisp “chop” to focus the off-beat accented rhythm of Bluegrass music.

Mandolin strings are duplicated and strung in like-pairs. As evidenced below, a musician`s fingertips experience double duty compared to when picking the single light-guage strings of a banjo.

When jamming with a younger and flourishing banjoist, the BRC craftsman regularly turns to the mandolin to give a burgeoning 5-string musician room to polish-up some chops.

Above far right, our bassist routinely wears a glove on her right hand to protect her fingertips while manipulating hefty bass strings. She is also a skilled hammer dulcimer player which requires no protective wear. Far left is the BRC craftsman`s Texas son who joins our Thursday evening jam sessions when visiting from the Lone Star State. He also plays electric bass for us when needed.

From the BRC: Happy picking y`all, whatever instrument you play.