The Avant Gardeners are fiddler and vocalist Laura Light, George Paul
on piano and accordion, Dave Wiesler on keyboards, guitar and mandolin
and Jubal Creech on percussion.  Frequent stand ins for stay at home dad Dave Wiesler are Al White of Berea, KY (The Berea Castoffs) and Dave Bartley of Seattle (KGB). The tunes are eclectic, original and rootsy - American hybrid variety.

The deep grooves of the band's mixture of traditional and composed tunes have contributed to the delirium of dancers at countless dances and concerts from coast to coast. Their range of performing styles from traditional swing, Celtic and old time and their facile improvisation on fiddle, piano, accordion, guitar, mandolin, and percussion have given this group their reputation as one of the premier contra and swing dance bands in the country.

Avant Gardener CDs: Tulip Bandits, with George, Laura, Dave, Roger Gold, Stuart Kinney, Scottie Williams and Bobby Read was j released in the spring of 2006. This recording is mostly original compositions and mostly the dance medleys we've been asked to record!  Thanks to all of you who kept writing to urge us to get it done! In addition, there is a little Ray Charles, and a couple of sweet ballads of Laura's. Done live in the studio, the recording captures some of that good
contra mojo.

Our newest CD, Goats in the Garden, will be coming out in the fall or 2009!

Original Gardeners, Laura, Dave, and Dan Sebring with bassist Ralph
Gordon, percussionist Paddy League, and vocalist Jo Taylor, released
STRONGER THAN DIRT, in 2003 - all original songs, hot swing, and jigs
and reels. Featuring the writing of all three gardeners, connoisseurs
of homegrown hybrid folk music will definitely want to check out this
fresh batch of songs and tunes. This group is a non-standard variety,
mixing years of misspent youth rock and rolling with endless jams at
fiddle festivals, swinging jazz with tinges of Klezmer, Irish reels
and classical strains amongst folk melodies.

"People are going to love this CD!"
- Grammy award winning mastering engineer Charlie Pilzer, Airshow.

Please call 434-974-1488 or contact Laura Light at laurafiddle@gmail.com
for CD and booking information.

Avant Gardeners - Print quality photo (JPG file)

Avant Gardeners Duo- Poster with Laura and George (PDF file*)

Avant Gardeners Duo- Poster with Laura and George (WORD file)



PLAYER BIOS

Jim Roberts
click to read bio

David Weisler
click to read bio