We’re a new five-piece electric country band, but combined we have over a century of professional performing experience on stages and bandstands around the world. We explore country music's great honky-tonk song tradition (roughly 1950–1975) and forge our favorites into sets that are fun for both listeners and dancers. Expect to enjoy shuffles, stomps, shouts, and laments from the repertoires of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, George Jones, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and the Amazing Rhythm Aces.
Two traits especially set Swinging Doors apart from other hard-country bands:
• Vocal versatility — we have four singers, and we often use three-part harmonies.
• Classic instrumentation — we play at moderate volume levels, and we keep an acoustic guitar prominent in the rhythm, harking back to the Hank Williams band.
Here we are in alphabetical order:
Steve Baker
plays electric lead guitar and sings the barroom classics he learned as a sideman and leader in the 1980s and 1990s, working with the likes of Rhythm on the Range and the Home Grown Band.		   Ray Bierl
is our chief lead singer, playing an acoustic rhythm guitar, but uses the fiddle a lot, too. With his name on the front of two CDs and a long track record with Hillbillies from Mars, Ray is known for making each song a memorable story as well as a powerful musical experience. 		  John Hanes
is a drummer’s drummer, just as comfortable with a sentimental slow-dance or a mellow waltz as with raucous Zydeco stomps, country-rocking boogies, and boot-scooting Buck Owens shuffles. He and Markie make an unbeatable groove team.		   Markie Sanders
plays electric bass in irresistible sync with John's drums, and she is a fine singer, too. Having recorded and performed with too many bands to name, she spent fourteen years in Nashville with appearances on TV and the Grand Ole Opry.
   Mayne Smith concentrates on the pedal steel guitar in Swinging Doors and also sings some of his own compositions and a few other favorites. Breaking into electric country rock with The Frontier in 1970, he went on to perform with many bar bands and experimental groups. His name is on the front of three CDs.
 
 
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