BAND BIO

 

A group of friends playing for our friends – that’s how the members of Code Bluegrass see ourselves. We love getting together and sharing our music with our community. Our favorite gigs are local fundraisers and events.  We play mostly traditional Bluegrass, with some old time Fiddle Tunes thrown in.

 

We started meeting in the fall of 2002 to prepare for a Words and Music gig in Portola, CA.   Here we are more than five years later, having too much fun to stop. We still feel a thrill each time we work together to breathe life into a tune. Our idea is to get away from this modern age of pre-packaged entertainment and get back to the days when people just hung out on the back porch and created their own joyful noise. We hope you’ll join us.

 

Band Members:

 

Chris Stanton, MD – Family Doctor, 26 year resident of Portola, now works in Sparks, enthusiastic banjo picker and singer

 

John Raeder, DO – Family Doctor, now lives and works in Reno after 25 years of residency in Portola, talented mandolin and guitar player, and singer

 

Laura Ashkin – Chris Stanton’s wife of 33 years, part time library assistant, avid dobro player and singer

 

Bob Canby - retired California State Park ranger now living in Portola, veteran fiddle player for over 40 years, guitar and mandolin player, singer and yodeler

 

Carol Canby – retired banker and Portola resident, keeps us all together as our spirited new bass player

 

Michael Franz – retired computer programmer from Reno, talented and multi-faceted musician who graciously rounds out our sound playing rock solid guitar (and occasional mandolin) and singing