Welcome to the official site of the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival! Produced by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. This page gives details on the performers at the 2009 event.

2009 Performers
The Derek Trucks Band -- A special event for the inaugural AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival! The Derek Trucks Band has been a work in progress for over 10 years, blending jazz, rock, blues, Latin, Eastern Indian, and other world music into the sound that now defines the DTB. The band's mission has been to assemble a group of musicians that share a passion for improvisation and musical exploration, and to develop a united musical vision by performing with this core group of players for an extended period of time. The focus of the band is on the art form itself, despite the current trend of image-driven music on the scene today. The DTB aims to create progressive roots music in an effort to move the art form forward and re establish substance over hype. Derek Trucks, the band's leader, is the youngest player to make Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list. The DTB also includes Yonrico Scott (drums, percussion & vocals), Kofi Burbridge (keyboards, flute & vocals), Mike Mattison (vocals), Todd Smallie (vocals & bass) and Count M'Butu (percussion). The DTB is headlining and closing the festival, and will be featured at the festival on Sunday night only. This performance is sponsored by Bud Light.
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals -- This Vermont-based act is a neoclassic rock & roll band possessing bona fide chops, a natural sense of dynamics and a palate containing all the useful colors, and these qualities allow them to stretch out onstage, to riveting effect. Leading the charge is 24-year-old Grace Potter, whose vocal abilities have drawn comparisons to Janis Joplin. According to Bonnie Raitt, they're "one of the most soulful new bands around," and Rolling Stone's critic David Fricke predicts they're "poised for bigger things." They've toured with Dave Matthews, Trey Anastasio, Gov't Mule, and Taj Mahal. In 2009 they've been blowing away audiences at festivals nationwide, including Wanee, Rothbury, Floydfest and Bonnaroo, and we look forward to welcoming them to our festival on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22. Sponsor: Harrigan's Cafe & Wine Deck.
Donna The Buffalo -- Donna the Buffalo is twenty years young this year and as energized as ever. Their signature sound is a bedrock of traditional mountain music infused with elements of Cajun, rock, folk, reggae and country that's best experienced live - the interchange of energy and emotion between the band and the audience makes their shows unforgettable. They've become regulars at festivals like their own Grassroots Fest, The Leaf Fest and Merle Fest in North Carolina, Harvest Fest in Georgia, Magnolia Fest in Florida, Great Blue Heron in New York, and Rhythm Roots Fest in Rhode Island, and we are delighted to welcome them and their fans (known as the Herd) to the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival on Saturday night. Sponsor: Laurel Management.
Ruthie Foster -- With a sound that ignores demographic lines and a charisma that can ignite any audience, Ruthie Foster is an artist of all-encompassing appeal. On albums and gigs that have taken her from choir lofts to folk bistros and onto stages in Europe and Australia, Foster raises the multiple flags of American music. There's Southern blues in her groove, rock in her rhythm, a blend of gospel redemption, country poetry and jazz elegance in her singing - with soul burning at the core. Her shows have inspired a string of reviews in which the essential points are made repeatedly: Ruthie Foster merits comparison to the legends that inspired her, even as her unique contributions stake out a place of her own in the spotlight. "Ruthie's drawn comparisons to Ella and Aretha, but musically neither is really close," observed the Philadelphia City Paper. "What she does have in common with Fitzgerald and Franklin is the irresistible blaze. It's impossible to look away, even close the eyes, for one second." Sponsor: 1st Summit Bank.
Seven Nations -- Bagpipes rock! Seven Nations, who last played our festival in 2004, blends American rock and Celtic roots rock while intertwining the brooding beauty of the mandolin, violin, bagpipes, and horns. Success has been entirely on their own terms -- the independent band has had specials on ESPN, PBS, and CNN and sold more than 125,000 records without ever being promoted and signed by a major label. Sponsor: Northwest Savings Bank.
Bill Kirchen & the Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods -- Raves one critic, "Bill Kirchen rules. It's just that simple. [His] no-nonsense diesel guitar attack, powered by great booming, bottom-heavy licks still covered with axle grease, is undoubtedly the real thing, scattering scorching guitar runs in all directions, it's all immediate, in your face and more than a little dangerous." The former guitarist for Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Kirchen has earned the title "Titan of the Telecaster." His 30-year career celebrates an American musical tradition where country music draws upon its origins in blues and bluegrass, rollicking rockabilly and the Western swing of Texas and California honky-tonks. A favorite at FolkFest 2004 (as seen in the photo) and 2007, Kirchen is known for his crowd-pleasing live shows. Sponsor: Concurrent Technologies Corp.
Kane Welch Kaplin-- This trio melds folk, country, & blues when singing & playing string instruments with a jazz musicians spontaneity & freedom. As songwriters, performers, innovators and founders of the influential Dead Reckoning record label, Kieran Kane and Kevin Welch have made a career of letting the song lead the way. In the process, they midwifed a new genre of American roots music, blazing a trail for other artists to explore and develop. Yet their modus operandi remains the same to craft and compose with no goal other than to let the song realize itself. In 2003 they joined forces with Fats Kaplin, the renowned multi-instrumentalist and this generation's Ry Cooder, to create an Americana supergroup that makes music with roots parameters but in the spontaneity and vibe of a jazz recording. Sponsors: MetLife and Downtown Coalition.
Scott Blasey -- Scott Blasey started playing music in 1986, forming the Clarks with three friends at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The Clarks became hugely popular, spending the last 20 years traveling around the country preaching their brand of rock-n-roll salvation. Since 1995 Blasey has been recording and touring solo in addition to his work with the Clarks, and has built quite a following on his own. The AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival is pleased to bring him to our event for the first time in 2009 - he'll play on Sunday, August 23. Sponsors: 96 Key, Froggy 95, Hot 92, Rocky 99, and News-Talk 990.
Scrapomatic -- Hailing from Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN and schooled individually in jazz, roots and blues music, Mike Mattison and Paul Olsen began playing together in the mid-1990s. After being recognized with Minnesota Music Award nominations for Best R&B Group and Best Male Vocalist, the duo decamped to Brooklyn, NY in 1997 and have since stomped their way through nearly every venue in the metropolitan New York area and beyond, including Carnegie Hall. In 2003, they recorded their self-titled debut album, which was released on his Artists House label. Chosen by the Boston Herald as one of its top ten "hidden pearl" releases of the year, the newspaper called it "the perfect blues appetizer." The Savannah Morning News said, "Scrapomatic reaffirms that good music still has the power to feed the soul." Sponsor: Spence, Custer, Saylor, Wolfe & Rose.
The Clumsy Lovers -- The musicians that eventually became the Clumsy Lovers weren't exactly trying to start a band -- they were just playing for fun around their home base of Vancouver on weekends. They soon developed a unique sound that blends bluegrass, Celtic and rock -- with instrumentation that includes a mandolin, banjo, fiddle, harmonica, and guitar, bolstered by a strong rhythm section of bass and percussion. Before long they began touring more than just weekend gigs, and the band officially came into being. They released a series of self-produced recordings starting in 2000, and by 2004 had been picked up by a major label. Almost ten years and more than 1,500 live performances later, they're bringing their own patented "fingerpicking mayhem" to our festival for the first time on Saturday, August 22. Wrote one critic, "You want to say they are like the Pogues and They Might Be Giants thrown into a juicer, but one sitting and you'll understand that these folks are a little less definable." Sponsor: Carpenter's Local Union #1419
Todd Wolfe -- Todd Wolfe plays aggressive and daring blues tinged jam-rock reminiscent of the bands of the sixties and seventies. Wolfe formed his band following his five-year stint as lead guitarist and occasional writing partner for Sheryl Crow. He toured the world with Sheryl from 1993 until 1998 opening shows for the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Bob Dylan, Elton John, and Page & Plant among others. Now, with his newest band, Todd Wolfe picks up where he left off 10 years ago with his original bluesadelic-jamming sounds. The band also includes Suavek Zaniesienko, a classically-trained bassist who is originally from Poland, and drummer Roger Voss. Wrote one critic, "Their sound recalls bands like Gov't Mule and Cream with the primal stage energy of Red Hot Chili Peppers." Sponsor: L. Robert Kimball & Associates.
Ernie Hawkins -- For many years, Pittsburgh native Ernie Hawkins has been playing concerts, clubs, blues and folk festivals, workshops, colleges, museums, parties, fist fights and millennium celebrations in the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe and at every stop in the road from A Prairie Home Companion to Antone's to the Madrid Jazz Festival (not to mention our festival in 2004 and 2002). Ernie has played with blues greats such as Son House, Mance Lipscomb, Fred McDowell, Jim Brewer, Rev. Gary Davis and many others. A virtuoso guitarist, Ernie has taught at most of the major guitar camps in the world. He'll play for us on Friday night. Sponsor: Brett Insurance.
Bill Deasy -- According to All Music Guide, "Sensitive singer/songwriters are a dime a dozen, but really good ones are a rarity. Bill Deasy is the real deal. In a perfect world, you'd already know this." Deasy was the lead singer for the now-defunct Pittsburgh alternative rock band Gathering Field, which appeared at FolkFest 1997. As a solo artist, he has opened for Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Norah Jones; his songs have been recorded by a wide array of artists, including Kim Richey and Martina McBride. He recently released his fifth solo album, "A Different Kind of Wild." Sponsor: The Tribune-Democrat and Johnstown Magazine
Kristi Rose & Fats Kaplin - Wrote one critic, "Kristi Rose sounds like a classic case of punk gone country. Her sassy voice is bubbling with soul and fire, as she croons like a honky-tonk queen on moody, rootsy songs." She plays with Fats Kaplin, "... that rare master instrumentalist who doesn't need to show off his ability, preferring instead to add spice so that it blends into the musical mix." Sponsor: Milhalko's General Contracting and The Sargent's Group>
Ben Hardt Acoustic -- WYEP FM's 2007 Pittsburgh Artist of the Year, Ben Hardt has a love affair with strings. His music is a marriage of musical complexity and pop sensibility, built around the interplay between his gritty voice, his propulsive guitar playing, and violins, violas, and cellos. Whether with his full "symphony," a proper rock band complete with string section, or his acoustic performances with violin and cello, his unique blend of rock, pop, and classical comes through in a unique sound that has continued to gain Ben Hardt numerous accolades and has caught the attention of fans and agencies on the west coast as well. Catch Ben while you can, he may not just be Pittsburgh's Artist of the Year for very long! Sponsor: 91.3fm WYEP..
The NewLanders -- The NewLanders have researched and rediscovered songs that capture the American experience. By interweaving traditional instruments, including the Appalachian lap dulcimer, fiddle, and mandolin, with richly layered harmonies and electric guitar and bass, the NewLanders have created a contemporary sound, while honoring and preserving the inspiring stories of the past. A NewLanders performance includes engaging narrations and real-life accounts from the mills, mines, rivers, and fields of their home region, western Pennsylvania, as well as haunting songs and poignant stories that celebrate the enduring spirit that built our nation. Sponsor: Community Foundation for the Alleghenies.
Bob Banerjee & Friends -- Bob Banerjee is originally from India but his music is universal. Originally a classically trained violinist, he loves to take the fiddle beyond its stereotypes and injects passion and creativity into pop, country, Celtic, fusion, and world music styles. He has also surprised many with his mastery of mandolin and guitar and the depth of his melodic vocals. Bob was the fiddler for the internationally famous band, "Gaelic Storm" (the Irish steerage band from the movie "Titanic"). Nowadays, he is a founding member of the "Corned Beef and Curry Band" (guess which one he is?), and his newest project features Bob in his favorite role as singer/songwriter and entertaining audiences with his quick humor, warm personality, and love of audience interaction. Audiences rave about how Bob plays to each and every person in the audience and makes them part of his musical world. Sponsor: Re/MAX Team Realtors
Gerry Stanek -- One look at Gerry Stanek's torn and beaten guitar cases-or the cigarette burn on the headstock of his Fender Jazz bass-tells the story: these instruments belong to a working musician who actually WORKED! There have been many bands, including western Pennsylvania favorites The Impostors and major label (Epic Records) cult fave's The Lost, based in New York City. He even did a tour of duty with Pittsburgh's hardest working rocker, Norman Nardini. After playing bass with Asbury Park's Outcry (Polygram) in the late '90s, Stanek retired to western Pennsylvania for some good old fashioned log splitting, truck driving adventures. Behind him lay the ashes of more than 3,500 gigs played between 1978 and 1998. After a 9-year hiatus from the music business, Gerry Stanek released "Coal Miner's Sun" in 2007 and "Demo's From a Long Winter" in '08. He received international attention in 2008 for his single, "I'm in Love with a Girl Named Sarah Palin." Sponsor: Cernic's
Gypsy Dave & the Stumpjumpers -- Led by a young songwriter and charged by a powerful and artistic band, Gypsy Dave and the Stumpjumpers have been compared to everyone from Arlo Guthrie and Neil Young to alt country heroes Uncle Tupelo. Wrote one critic, ""Gypsy Dave's songs define real American roots music, combining folk, bluegrass, and country without any studio slickness." To put it simply, they write and play what they feel. Based in Meadville, Pa., the band's songs run the gamut, from heartfelt and emotional, to light and at times even playful. Sponsor: Cool 101.7
Bill Toms -- Bill Toms has evolved to become one of the best orators in the music world today. With a guitar, a pen, a lot of passion, Bill Toms connects to an audience and embraces the American traditions of rhythm, blues, soul, folk, and country. His gifts of music and storytelling, paired with his creative compulsion for songs that burrow deep into the soul, have his dedicated fans continually coming back for more. He spent 19 years guitar and singing back-up vocals for Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, and will be playing solo at our festival. Sponsor: Johnstown Construction
Joy Ike -- Joy Ike's music is an indie-infused mix of jazz, pop, and neo-soul, and has often been compared to the likes of Fiona Apple, Corrinne Bailey Rae, and Norah Jones. The Pittsburgh-grown, Nigerian singer/songwriter was noted as "one of the artists [who] will ultimately be responsible for placing Pittsburgh's music scene firmly on the map," by Allhiphop.com. And in 2008, she was voted "Best Artist" and "Best Solo Artists" by readers of the Pittsburgh City Paper. But aside from her serious attitude about the world and her music, her awkward sense of humor and the occasional bad note are the less intense, more comical shortcomings of a 25-year-old who claims she's trying to save the world. Sponsor: Quaker Sales
The Turpentiners -- The Turpentiners feature an alternating cast of characters well-known on the Pittsburgh music scene. At our festival, the lineup will include Ben Hartlage (guitar, vocal), Stu Braun (harmonica), Megan Williams (fiddle, vocals), and Adam Frew (upright bass). Formed in the fall of 2007, The Turpentiners play a dirty breed of old-time country and rural swing that sounds, by turns, like two-alarm chili, rutting ducks, and nine-hundred dollars. Sponsor: Millwork Solutions.
Brad Yoder -- Brad Yoder was voted "Best Acoustic/Solo Artist" by readers in four recent Pittsburgh City Paper polls (2003, 2004, 2006 & 2007) - but thinks it's even cooler to play Poughkeepsie, New York and have a college freshman from Los Angeles request songs she's only heard via internet downloads. Yoder's songs have been featured on CBS's show "NUMB3RS," NPR's "Car Talk," and in the Pittsburgh History Museum's 9/11 exhibit. Logging around 150 performances each year, in venues ranging from colleges, clubs, and cafes to church basements and the zoo, Brad has earned the title of "ruling the Pittsburgh coffeehouse scene" (Pittsburgh Magazine). As a solo performer, Brad has showcased at Toronto's North by Northeast Music Conference, performed at the Pittsburgh Folk and Philadelphia Fringe Festivals, and opened for artists such as the Cowboy Junkies, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Todd Snider.Sponsor: High Powered Electric
Maddie Georgi -- Maddie Georgi may be just sixteen, but she is an old soul. The songs she crafts contain the emotional perspective of teenage angst and womanly confidence, and they come wrapped in catchy melodies that only a gifted songwriter could create. Maddie is more than an extraordinary vocalist. She is a song stylist, whose chameleon pipes can tackle any genre and make it her own. Displaying a poise and presence well beyond her years, Maddie has performed at many prestigious venues including Club Cafe, the Hard Rock Cafe, Heinz Field, South Side Works Town Square, Syria Shrine Center and PNC Park for audiences as intimate as 50 and as massive as 30,000. She has opened for national recording artists Enuff's Znuff, Billy Price, grammy winner Van Hunt, Nashville's Brooke Waggoner, and Pittsburgh fave Bill Deasy. Her original song "Gone Away Again" was selected out of more than 60,000 submissions to be one of 64 finalists in the 2008 national CMT Music City Madness contest. After six rounds of online voting, she was chosen as the contest's first runner-up. Sponsor: Re/MAX Team Realtors
Heather Kropf -- Heather Kropf's songs are miniature mysteries, hidden within vignettes of everyday experience. The contours of her melodies are cleanly-wrought; her lyrics are at once plain-spoken and elegantly poetic. She delivers them in an evocative voice carried by subtle rhythms and unexpected chords. There's a sense of possibility in what she does, of longings to be embraced and risks to be taken. Since moving to Pittsburgh in 1995, she's charmed audiences as both a solo performer and with her trio. Regional tours and CD releases have steadily expanded her following. Sponsor: JWF Industries
Jazz In Your Face -- A festival perennial, Jazz In Your Face is a Johnstown-based group specializing in big-band music. This 17-member band has been entertaining audiences since 1988, and is a favorite part of Sunday afternoons at our festival. Sponsor: Flower Barn
Endless Mike and the Beagle Club Since starting out in 2003, the Johnstown-based Beagle Club has played approximately 100 shows a year, all over the East Coast and the Midwest. Featuring an ever-rotating cast of musicians and instruments, their last album, "We Are Still At War," was written and performed as a 16-piece band. It was recorded live at 709 Railroad Street here in Johnstown, and it was released on New York City label Crafty Records. Members of the Beagle Club are also active in the Johnstown independent music and art scene. They helped open and continue to help operate the art and music venue 709 Railroad Street, and they are all involved in the local artist collective My Idea of Fun. Sponsor: Conference Archives
Miner Swing Quartet -- Like many bands that play gypsy jazz, the Curwensville-based Miner Swing Quartet is formed of musicians from various musical backgrounds -- all self-taught musicians that have gained knowledge and honed their chops through years of performing with various bands, listening to recordings and relentless practice. The best part is, they are drawn together because of the music, the aura surrounding this music, and their desire to play it. The only thing these guys have to rely upon are their ears and the afore mentioned desire to share the music. So, onward they press into the sound of jangly guitars and a growling bass viol playing music that has quite a history but still needs to be heard. They'll play the festival on Friday night. Sponsor: Mlaker Transportation.
Tree -- Tree is a trio of local musicians who combine elements of traditional Irish, Celtic rock, bluegrass, and old-time music into a lively and unique sound that is truly all their own. With simple instrumentation including guitar, fiddle, and drums, this tight-knit group creates a barrage of up-beat and eclectic music that's sure to have your toes tapping from the first note to the last. Maintaining a vigorous practice and performance schedule, Tree has performed at a wide variety of local venues and festivals since their debut in early 2005. For this trio, success comes with the sheer enjoyment of the music they play, which shines through each time they hit the stage. Sponsor: WQED.
Whiskey River Panhandlers -- Hailing from Johnstown, the Whiskey River Panhandlers' music harkens back to a time when things were more simple, the days moved slower, and friends and family were about the most important things in life. Our sound is what one would get if you threw some Americana, folk, alt country, Appalachian, and bluegrass music into a big old pot with a few sticks of country and a couple of slices of rock-n-roll and let it simmer all day long. We create a musical stew in which all parts retain their own identity, but each lends to the flavor of the mix. Sponsor: Westwood Garden Haven