Border benders rock the Island - in a folksie sort a way

PRESS RELEASE FROM MASON PHELPS, JR. OF PHELPS MEDIA GROUP, INC

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Standing Room Only at "Ross Phillips Band" Gig on St. Joseph Island

RICHARDS LANDING, ONTARTIO – They only manage to get together a few times a year, but judging by the amount of applause The Ross Phillips Band received at a crowded Legion Hall on St. Joseph Island Saturday night, you'd think they had been playing together professionally for years.

Indicative of the international mix on the border-bending St. Joseph Island, the audience on Saturday night had Canadian locals sitting next to American tourists, local shopkeepers mingling with corporate executives and world travelers, and the 20-somethings chatting with silver-haired retirees.

The band is equally diverse, with four Americans and a Canadian belting out old time rock and roll, folk music and other favourites.

Doctor Ron Penn is the band's expert fiddler and violinist, and he's actually the Director of Old Time Music at the University of Kentucky.

His fiddle of choice was made by the Schryer Violin Shop in Hilton Beach.

The only local in the group, Ross Phillips is the band's lead vocalist, and a great guitarist, too.

When Ross isn't running the Desbarats Market, he plays some solo gigs locally, and tries to get the group together every once in a while for a jam session.

The band's lead guitarist is Rick Sipe, who is a sales and marketing executive back home in the Chicago area.

Music has been a part of Rick's life for decades; he's been in a number of bands over the years, including String Theory, Forest Fire, Suzy and the Bumps, and Rick's Jam Band. He plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as mandolin.

Despite the huge applause he received for his solo electric guitar performances Saturday night, Rick says he just plays for fun.

A master of the hammered dulcimer, Steve Snyder of the Detroit area also plays keyboards.

With a Master's degree in music therapy, Steve has played dulcimer on movie soundtracks, radio and TV commercials and documentaries, and was the first hammered dulcimer player on Broadway.

He takes the time to share his musical experience with others by holding a week-long dulcimer retreat in Ontario, and gives private lessons back home in Michigan.

An architect by day and musician by night, Wells Wheeler is a master of the harmonica and autoharp.

Also from the Chicago area and originally from California, Wells has been playing music with his brother-in-law Ron Penn for over thirty years.

In fact, in addition to Wells and Ron being brothers in law, Rick and Steve are also brothers in law to each other.

They are all third-generation summer residents of the Kensington Point area of Desbarats.

Along with their good friend Ross Phillips, these "ordinary guys" have been having fun playing together off and on for some 25 years.

Only this past May did they decide to formalize their group and start playing in public together as a band.

Even then, there will only be a few gigs a year, whenever their vacation schedules happen to line up with each other.

While a lot of the band has headed back to the States for the rest of the month, you can expect to see this group of old friends back at the Legion Hall sometime in August.