|
 We’re
a five-piece electric band with 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. |
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| Steve
Baker, Ray Bierl, Lloyd Ferris, Markie Sanders, Mayne Smith
(Photo by Mike Melnyk) |
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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.
Lloyd Ferris uses powerful jazz chops he learned from Jack Taylor
to lay down catchy country drum grooves. In the 1980s he played with Steve Baker
in Rhythm on the Range, and at the turn of the century he participated in a revival
of Country Weather. |
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Markie
Sanders plays electric bass in irresistible sync
with Lloyd'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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