Dean entered the music world as a youth in his home state of Minnesota sitting first chair trumpet in the elementary school band.  He loved the sounds and tonal organization found in classical and jazz repertoire.  But at eighteen he discovered the bluegrass banjo.  The new sounds and patterns of the banjo and the tight vocal arrangements of the bluegrass idiom took control of his heart.  In his twenties, Dean moved to Texas to be with his wife, Patty, and was playing regularly in a local bluegrass band.  We all know you can't  feed a family of six as a bluegrass musician, so the banjo went under the bed for a few decades!   However, the basic need to make music re-emerged a few years ago and Dean shifted his attention to the mandolin.  He finds the mandolin's logical set-up, its beautiful tone and its suitability to so many musical styles intoxicating.  Dean says, "The thing I love about playing with Lou and Swing Shift is that they honor so many styles of music.  We play bluegrass, swing, western, country and even some classical.  The only rules are that the music must sound good.  Also, the talent level of the band is amazing considering we all have day jobs."  We say, "Welcome to the band!"

We're so pleased Meredith has joined us on fiddle and violin.  She can burn down the barn or bring a tear to your eye.  (We like both!)  For her age, this is one accomplished young lady.  She has more to put in her resume at 18 than some of us have in a lifetime of playing, including a spot on the Grand Old Opry in  Nashville with Vassar Clements.   She's won the Smithville, TN Junior Championship and has played in Chattanooga's Youth Symphony all through high school, with her own band, Full Pull, and with Cumberland Gap Connection.  She has studied with Aubrey Haynie and is studying jazz and swing violin with Buddy Spicher.  We first met her when she was about 9 and she was playing very well back then.  You should hear her now!  Meredith loves to "kick it up a notch" and we're always glad to let her!

"Paddle faster"...you'll hear banjo music when Jonathan joins us onstage.  We're happy to add his five-string skills to our mix.  He credits musical influences from Ed Brown, J.D. Crowe,  and Earl Scruggs to The Beatles,  Fats Domino, and the Funk Brothers. He's 25 years old and began performing in 1999.  "I like the pure, rich sound that the banjo has," says Jonathan.  We like it, too!

Chris "Lightnin'" Hopkins, our guitar player extraordinaire, hails from Whittier, CA. We  could say many things about Chris (and we surely will during the course of a show) but  foremost is his ability to catch on to just about anything musically.  His timing is as unbeatable as a photo speeding ticket.  He says he learned it all from his dad, Don. (Don, of course, confirms this as well.)  Chris's tasty breaks and unbelieveable sense of rhythm are a delight to the ears.  His sense of humour isn't bad, either, and we are usually laughing at something Chris comes up with, his quick one-liners flying over the heads of crowds everywhere.  Along the way, Chris played in high school groups and along with Don and Mary Ann and bass-playing brother, Tim, played in the Hopkins Family Band and also with Rick McWilliams.   After living in Texas for a while, he now makes his home in Tennessee with wife, Lori and twins Greg and Jeanette (also musical). 

"I guess I was about three or four years old,"  Lynn says, "when I crawled up on my dad's record player and put on 'Tiger Rag'.  That was it!  I knew I wanted to play that sound."  Trained as a classical pianist, she got a piano at age 7 and studied with teachers Jon and Marian Robere and Arthur Rivituso through college.  At 16, she picked up a guitar and taught herself chords from sheet music.  She played in school orchestra, performed in musicals and coffeehouses in the 70's.  Life caught up with her musical pursuits (she's also a registered nurse) until she met Lou in the late eighties. "We performed together occasionally over the years with other bands, but that was not as musically fulfilling as being in a full-time band together.  I fell in love with the bass like I had the piano as a child. And I mean LOVE. My classical training and musical background really gave me a leg up on the bass,"  Lynn says.  " I really love to PLAY bass.  It's a beautifully expressive instrument.  I also really love the way this band can just go anywhere musically. There's always something new, but I especially love the swing."  She has played with Lou in Phoenix, the Wizards of String, and now with Swing Shift.