George Victory “Key West is like Trinidad without the mountains” Born in 1950, George Victory grew up in Five Rivers, a small village near Arouca in Trinidad. He said there was only one river but you had to cross it five times as it snaked its way down Arouca. One of George’s teachers recognized his […]
Walter Yarbrough “A much better person because of music” Walter Yarbrough is from Albany, New York. A younger brother received a guitar when he was six but quickly gave it up. Walter confiscated the guitar and never stopped playing. He bought a Beatles album and the sheet music to go with it. He soon heard […]
George Chapman ”making memories for people” George Chapman was raised in Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. He played drums in the school band and, at age 11, started playing guitar. When he was 12 years old, George started playing drums in his guitar teacher’s wedding band but had to hitch a ride to gigs […]
John Bartus …playing music is not a bad life When John Bartus was young, his family moved to Florida. His father worked for NASA as a launch team leader on the Saturn Rocket program. John enjoyed growing up with the Gemini and Apollo space programs. The family moved to South Carolina as the Apollo program […]
Bo Fodor “Plan your work and work your plan” Bo Fodor says he’s another Army brat musician who moved a lot with his family, which consisted of two brothers and a sister. In 1974, at the age of 14, he started playing guitar in Minneapolis – Saint Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from Park High School […]
Nick Brownell was born in Kansas but raised in Sandusky, Ohio. He always loved to sing and had teachers that encouraged him. He has five brothers. When Nick was sixteen, a younger brother got a guitar. They learned to play together. Barry Ross, who was a little older, took Nick to house parties, and […]
Mike Emerson – if you throw a rock in Key West you’ll probably hit a guitar player Mike Emerson was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He began playing guitar, which his brother Glenn bought him, at age 12. He attended high school in Northern Kentucky and would perform with bands in local country bars […]
Alexander Michael – and his gypsy jazz Alexander Michael hails from North Minneapolis. His father, Greg, played guitar and started teaching Alexander music at eight years old, around camp fires and in the kitchen. When Alexander was 20, he took a month long, 200 miles, confidence building sojourn along the Lake Superior Trail alone. He […]
Ross Brown “The warmth and closeness of the music brotherhood is uplifting.” Ross Brown grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His father and grandfather were musicians. His father always seemed to have a Blues band. Ross has been playing music all his life. He graduated from Drexel University, in Philadelphia with a degree in Computer Science. […]
CW Colt – Royal Minstrel of the Conch Republic. Coul William Colt (aka: CW Colt) has been in Key West so long that when asked where he’s from, he quickly answers “here.” Music had deep roots in his family. His grandfather had an orchestra in Indiana. He was young when he began singing in the school […]
