Keystone Station
Keystone Station is a traditional bluegrass band from Marin County, CA, whose members are all veterans on the Bay Area music scene. Formed in the winter of 2001 and having made their grand debut at Sweetwater in Mill Valley in June of that year, the band is one of the favorites on the Bay Area bluegrass scene.
Keystone Station was built upon the duo Keystone Crossing -- Larry Carlin and Claudia Hampe. These two have been performing together since 1996, singing the songs of the brother duos from the early days of country and bluegrass music. They have shared the stage with Ralph Stanley, Peter Rowan, David Grisman, The Laurel Canyon Ramblers, and many others. In the winter of 2001 they started jamming informally with some local bluegrass pickers, and they decided to expand the duo to a five-piece band. Other Station members now include Kenny Blacklock on fiddle, Dave Earl on mandolin, and Jonathan Schiele on banjo.
The repertoire of Keystone Station is based on the songs of such notables as the late "Father of Bluegrass," Mr. Bill Monroe, as well as the Stanley Brothers, and Flatt and Scruggs. With haunting three-part harmonies, and hot instrumental picking on acoustic instruments, Keystone Station is steeped in the bluegrass tradition.
In October of 2001 and 2002 they played at the Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, and in November of that year they played at the CBA's Veteran's Day Festival in Woodland, CA. And they play at Sweetwater from time to time.
Check out their gig schedule on Musi-Cal.
KEYSTONE STATION BAND MEMBERS
Larry Carlin -- one of the founders of the band, Larry is a performer, producer, and writer of bluegrass in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally from King of Prussia, PA, he has been living in Sausalito for 19 years, and he plays standup bass. He performs in four bands, writes a monthly column titled "The Bluegrass Muse" for Bluegrass By The Bay, writes a biweekly email music newsletter called "Carltone's Corner," is the founder and host of the long-running Marin Bluegrass Jam, and he produces the bluegrass series called Bluegrass Gold at Sweetwater in Mill Valley. He is a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association, the California Bluegrass Association, and the Northern California Bluegrass Society. He plays a 1956 Kay M-1 bass.
Claudia Hampe -- the other founding member of the band, Claudia is from Radnor, PA, and has been in Mill Valley for 32 years. She sang in folk groups in high school, was in the band Rowdy and the Rivets some years back during the "Urban Cowboy Scare" of the early 1980s, and she also warbles the high parts with The Warblers. Claudia plays rhythm guitar and sings the beautiful parts that make the rest of the Keystone Crossing/Station sound so good. Her guitar of choice is a 1997 Collings OM-2H
Kenny Blacklock -- originally from Santa Rosa, CA, Kenny has been living either in Sausalito or Japan over the past eleven years. Besides playing fiddle (he also plays tin whistle, keyboards, mandolin, musical saw, and viola)(but not in this band), Kenny also is also a music teacher, a member of the folk/rock band The Keepers, The Bluegrass Contraption, and he is the grandson of legendary Bay Area saw player Charlie Blacklock. He speaks, reads and writes Japanese, works as a Japanese translator, and is ready to lead the band on a tour of Japan.
Dave Earl -- a lifelong musician, and another native Californian, Dave began playing bluegrass mandolin in 1998. The singing of the Stanley Brothers and the intensity of Bill Monroe have inspired him. In addition to Keystone Station, he is also a member of Carolina Special and The MacRae Brothers, and he's performed with The Alhambra Valley Band, The Whiskey Brothers and The Earl Brothers. He's been onstage at Bluegrass By the River, Wolf Mountain, CBA Fathers Day, Willow Creek, and The Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festivals. He plays a 1992 Flatiron F-J mandolin, and he resides in the hollow of San Francisco.
Jonathan Schiele -- another member originally from the Keystone state of Pennsylvania, Jonathan was born and raised in Philadelphia. In his younger days he played electric guitar and saxophone but was influenced early on by a bluegrass recording by banjo player Eric Weissberg. Jonathan played banjo for many years in The David Thom Band, and he also is a member of the Bay Area band Highway One. He plays a 1992 Gibson Earl Scruggs model five-string. He lives in El Cerrito, CA.