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Gretchen Troop

Performing Saturday, August 16th on the Main Stage at 7-8:30pm

Gretchen started her career singing professionally in New York City. After 5 years of hard work in NYC she decided to become a jazz singer and picked San Francisco as her new home. The acid-jazz scene was in full swing when she moved there and she jumped right in, sitting-in at The Elbo Room with The Broun Fellinis at the height of their popularity.

Gretchen started the all original band Non-Prophets with the guitarist Paris. The duo worked in the studio for over a year creating original material. Band in tact, and two sets of original music they took to the stage, only to have the drummer and guitarist find that they had "irreconciable difference" at the second gig... end of the Non-Prophets, who oddly, never pulled in any money! Be careful what you name your band!

After the Non-Prophets Gretchen decided to create a "lead-bass band" highlighting her favorite instrument. She was lucky enough to find the fantastic bass player, Scott Arnold and Sideways was formed. Sideways played in the Bay Area for 4 years with a good amount of success for an original band. They had many of the extremely talented jazz players in the area sit-in with them over the years. The songs were quirky and fun, and you can hear them online at http://cdbaby.com/cd/sideways

After that band ended she sang as a back-up singer with an original funk band named Skull Funk Tribe. When that band dissolved she hit a road block in her career and was off stage for two years, the longest time since her career had begun 16 years earlier. Fed up with the city, and the opportunities available she moved to the Denver area in search of... well mostly in search of a straight single man!

	Jodie Woodward is on the bass! The infamous Jodie Lynne Woodward is my partner in crime for this band, helping me to create those head rotating grooves that we love so much. Jodie has been playing bass for about 15 years and has played with most of the great blues bands in the Denver area. She started her career in the musically vibrant town of New Orleans and we are lucky to have her working here now. Jodie also is the woman behind "Woodward Productions" and she is responsible for the "Female All-Star Revue" shows, where local female musicians perform in all female gigs.

	Randall Dubis is the guitar player for the Gretchen Troop Band. Randall’s Dubis’s resume reads like a who’s who in the blues music world having worked with so many great performers. Randall spent over two years touring fulltime with the great blues legend Sonny Rhodes traveling across the U.S. Canada and Europe including France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Poland, Italy and Sicily. That tour included 21 Blues Festival appearances, 19 of which Sonny topped the bill. Additionally, Randall has performed with the late blues man Son Seals on club dates and festival appearances. Mentored both by Lap Steel king, Sonny Rhodes and Chicago Blues artist, Son Seals, it is clear Randall has absorbed the best of their styles and honored their influences in his performance skills. We are proud to have him playing with us.

	J. D. Townsend has been playing drums for more than four decades, sharing the stage with such luminaries as Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, The Jefferson Airplane and Terry Hanck. He is equally at home with blues, rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and swing. Colorado bands and musicians he’s worked with include Johnny O, Dan Treanor, King Leo Ladell, the Robert Wilson Blues Band, Blues Tonic, Chicago Skinny, Phat Chants and Triad.

	Also playing with the Gretchen Troop Band.... Jim Beckstein ~ keys Brian Fitzgerald ~ keys Brian McClure ~ drums Bob Tiger ~ bass David Foret ~ bass

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