Ben Taylor - Lead Vocals - Guitar

Ben Taylor (the crowd goes wild! Standing ovation. "Encore" "Encore" "Bravo") what can I say about this beautiful being who happens to be my brother?!

He is the deep end of the sky in August. He is the sway of mid Atlantic waves, the earth's sigh when the day finally takes to breaking your heart. He's the tallest branch on a weeping willow tree tickling the wind as she passes by. He is the hardest fit of laughter, the kind that rips the fabric of your soul and finds tear stained smiles indelibly etched into your mind. Baby, he's the BEST.

David Saw (a.k.a. The Saw) - Lead Guitar

David is English so he's got that adorable British accent which, in accompaniment with sharp chiseled features and the ability to manipulate a guitar to emote from sheer gratitude at it's own playing makes him quite a catch. I've traveled with him once before, last summer, when Ben brought a bunch of POMs over for a short East Coast gavotte where he was shy and sweet and not getting out of his black clothes into a bathing suit to come swimming with us hippies in the pond up in Vermont. He sat in the shade even on overcast days, hunched palely over a guitar in acoustic stupor writing and rewriting lyrics which flow from his mouth in Marlborough exhales.

Larry Ciancia - Drums (President of Iris Records)

Larry (drum player extraordinaire) is a fellow Coloradoan living with his wife and and two small children in the Colorado foothills - closer to the clouds than I do, in my abode. He's been a familiar face in the Simon/Taylor family for years playing for both my Mom and my bro.

Mild-mannered and strong, I credit Larry as majorly responsible for the temperature staying so steady, on an emotional level, in our lives. He appeared in my life on a raft one summer day in my pool 6 years ago and has been floating around on that same raft in my heart since then.

Gwen Snyder - Bass

My memory's picture of Gwen is of a petite black haired girl with a Joan Jet meets Emily the Strange glint in her eye. Her tiny frame supports what looks like an un-sheared lamb. This is her winter jacket that she wears like an appendage. She always looks like she wants to do something naughty or maybe she just has. Her blond bass holds her and in a stance that screams "ROCK STAR" as she plants a red leather boot up on a wedge and purses her lips as if to kiss her strings… O.K. maybe I'm exaggerating (I'm prone to hyperbole) but nonetheless, this girl is a hot, smokin', badass piece of Rock & Roll. Oh, did I mention she's got a voice as pure as cold spring water on a hot summer day?

Dominic Keska - Tour Manager
Kindra Adair - Merchandise

These two are indistinguishable from one another. Truly, they have the same hair color and cut, and the same calm, easy going, quiet demeanor. They are both smiles from ear to ear and they both seem to know something the rest of us humans don't. Of course, what they know I have no clue as to, being a mere human myself but I think they may have been given the guidebook to peace and happiness. Of course they could be aliens too. Let's not discount that option. Nevertheless, I'm goanna try to get as close as possible to them to see if I can't get my hands on that guide book.

Buddy Sofia - Driver

Not only do we have Mom's tour bus, we have Mom's bus driver - Buddy Sofia! Buddy is one of a kind. He's a night owl. He can drive all night long without a wink and he does so for 355 days out of the year. Of course, this means that he needs to sleep all day long which, although as a band we'll be sleeping on the bus, requires a hotel room in each city.

He's as nice a guy as you're gonna find out here on the road and has a heart of gold.

Blanch

Jen Lowe (Tristan's precisionist) came to the bus with a wiry haired, white Jack Russell terrier. "Would you guys mind taking Blanch for a couple days?" she asks. Would we?! Some puppy love is exactly what this group of minstrel vagabonds needs.