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Bob Mavian started playing country guitar in 1948. He heard bluegrass music and bought his first five-string banjo in 1952. He bought his first mandolin in 1958! He was born and raised in the great state of New Jersey. In the late 1950’s, the "Golden Era" of bluegrass music, Bob moved to Nashville. There he learned directly from the first generation icons of the music. Bob expanded his instrumental skills by playing Monroe style mandolin some twenty years ago. He is now one of this country’s leading practitioners of the Monroe style. This style is dynamic! It can range from a soft, gentle…even soothing sound, to a fierce percussive intensity rarely heard in any musical form. Most recently Bob played the role of Gibson Case in the Brother style duet called the "Case Brothers." The "Case Brothers" traveled and played many live stage, radio and television shows throughout the eastern United States. Playing the authentic styles of the "pioneers," the Case Brothers brought early "roots" music to the public forefront! Bob plays a Monroe style of mandolin and will contribute with any harmony or lead vocal.
Stoney Lonesome has been involved in bluegrass music for over thirty-five years. He plays the five-string banjo in the style of Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, and J.D. Crowe! Growing up in metropolitan New York he had a chance movie theater encounter with the Earl Scruggs banjo sound in the movie Bonnie and Clyde (Foggy Mountain Breakdown). Life from that moment on would be different. Hundreds of hours in front of the phonograph player slowed down to 16 RPM, a college choice in Nashville, Tennessee and many Saturday nights backstage at the Grand Ole Opry’s Ryman auditorium convinced him that the driving sound of the five-string banjo was his destiny. He played for 6 years with the Chicago based Bill Wells and the Blue Ridge Mountain Grass. A traditional bluegrass band whose members were Southwest Virginia / Eastern Kentucky transplants to the Midwestern industrial heartland. They had grown up in Stanley Country. It was in their blood. They played this music throughout the Midwest in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Pete Elegant plays a mean fiddle and he can sing all parts. Peter has been playing Bluegrass Music for the past 20 years. He was 1/2 of the Nathan Brothers & Straight Ahead here in NY in the Bluegrass heyday of the late 70's and has played the banjo with John Herald, Peter Rowan, Bear Acker, Bluegrass Hosses and many others over the years. Having switched over to the fiddle 8 years ago he has also subbed quite a bit with Karl Shifflet & the Big Country Show both here in the US & Canada. Peter is a songwriter & a fine baritone part singer as well.
Joe Delillo plays bass, but more importantly he is possibly the most powerful tenor singer in the northeast, if not the country. (Well...maybe that guy down in Goodlettesville is louder) His tenor voice, along with Nick’s lead singing, is the vocal blend so obviously missing from other duets! It seems so obvious to the listener that this is the way it should sound! Together their blend is simply…beautiful! Joe’s love of the music is so evident when he closes his eyes and sings out over the crowd. The sound resonates over acres! Joe has played bass in bands locally in Connecticut, and in New York City.
Nick Novia lives and works in Connecticut. He plays the rhythm guitar and sings a powerful and heartfelt lead vocal, but can sing all parts. His voice is clear, powerful, and resonant! When Nick sings, many heads turn to see where this penetrating sound is coming from. His phrasing is pure mountain! Coincidentally, his birth date is the same day that Carter Stanley, the other half of the "Stanley Brothers"(Ralph being his younger brother), tragically passed away at the young age of 41. This odd twist of fate has not been lost in Nick’s psyche. Nick’s middle name just happens to be "Stanley!". Nick first heard the haunting reality in Carter Stanley’s singing while a youngster growing up in Vermont. It would be twenty years before it took hold of him!Yearly trips down to Ralph Stanley’s "Hills Of Home" Memorial Day Bluegrass Festival have also led to his understanding of how the music "should" be presented.More than one listener has commented on Nick’s soulful ballad renditions and heard the echoes of Carter Stanley within. Nick has played in regional bands the last fifteen years, but this aggregate of musicians is what he has been waiting for! nicholas_s_novia@sbcglobal.net