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Janet Emma Garbe - vocals, percussion |
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 Janet Emma Garbe is the woman at the helm of One Horse Town. She has what every band desperately needs but so few bands have - vision. She has guided this band steadily through the shoals of shifting personnel and the hazards of real-life living to bring her gang from a trio playing in Starbucks in 2000, to a full band Wammie win in 2007, to opening for Eddie From Ohio at the Birchmere in 2008. This is an amazing feat for any band, let alone one managed by a single mom with two kids and three jobs!
Janet knows something of how the industry works, having run her own venue, the Americana Stage, in Leesburg for several years in the 90s, doing a very good job of bringin top notch alt-country acts to her hometown. All her skill and business acumen and drive has been applied with a laser focus to moving OHT into the fast currents of creds and acclaim, which she has done with a success that has impressed music watchers on the scene.
Janet doesn't just work behind the scenes - Janet Emma Garbe fronts this great band. With her sweet husky voice, she can stir the longing in your soul with the ballad "Indigo", then knock your hat in the creek with OHT's rendition of "Luxury Liner". Janet is also a singer/songwriter and fine percussionist. She has co-written songs with legends Ellis Paul, Jon Carroll, Andrew McKnight, as well as with her OHT partner, Julia Kasdorf. |
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Julia Kasdorf - acoustic guitar, vocals |
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 Julia has been playing live music for most of her life, playing bass in
the SF punk scene, touring nationally with a Dead cover band, doing the
folkie strummer bit at the Child Herald. By the time Janet found Julia
and her husband, Lynn, playing as a guitar/pedal steel duo in a Borders
cafe, Julia was 6 mos pregnant and ready to hang up her guitar to start
her family. But Janet's vision was irresistible - she liked Julia's
songs "Long Cold Winter" and "Tioga Pass", and saw a way for the new
trio, One Horse Town, to move forward.
Janet took Julia down see Janet's favorite band, Last Train Home, at
Iota. They watched as LTH invited folks onstage to join in on various
tunes, as is their custom. Julia watched as guy after guy jumped
onstage, and finally she waddled upfront (she was 8 mos pregnant now)
and tapped Eric's foot. "Aren't you going to have any women come up
there?" Eric no doubt wondered who this pushy gal might be, but as a
gentleman, he said "Well, get up here!" The rest of the band quelled
their doubts about having this unknown, very pregnant woman front their
band to a very packed house, but, pros all, they swung easily into a
full-throated, honky-tonkin "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" that did
not disappoint. No one was more delighted or surprised to see her pal
onstage, showing the guys what gals could do, than Janet. This fine
example of Julia's trademark gutsiness earned her the high compliment
from a girl in the audience, "You're the coolest pregnant woman I've
ever seen."
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Lynn Kasdorf - pedal steel, dobro |
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 Janet credits Lynn Kasdorf with bringing "the high-lonesome" into One
Horse Town. Julia Kasdorf, Lynn's wife, is grateful every time OHT hits
the stage that she married a pedal steel player. Not only is it hard to
find some one who can competently play the contraption, its very hard
to find someone who plays with the smoothness and taste of Lynn
Kasdorf. Lynn can take any raw OHT tune and spread it with sweet,
welcome honey, giving it polish and style.
Lynn is a long-standing member in the best Bob Wills cover band this
side of Texas, the Oklahoma Twisters. He cuts a mean wire on the
well-worn swing trail, but loves to lay down steel in unexpected
places, like the frenzied solo in OHT's cover of Fred Eaglesmith's
"Freight Train", or in the band's Bedouin-flavored jam, "Wooden Cross".
Lynn is well-respected around the scene for his great playing and
musicanship, often sitting in with the Hula Monsters and other bands
that share the stage with OHT. |
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Stuart Martin - lead guitar, mandolin |
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 Janet used to bartend at a bar where 80s east-coast sensation Wolves of Azure roared through from time
to time. All the gals had a queen-sized crush on handsome Stuart, with
his long blonde hair and rockin' delivery, so you could have knocked
Janet over with a feather when, years later, she collared Stuart, solo
and groomed, playing jazz standards on a hollow-body in a cafe. "Tweed!"
she declares, "Stuart was wearing tweed!"
Stuart joined OHT just in time to lay down the critical telecaster lead
on "On the Mountain", days before the record went to mastering. "We had
tried everything on that lead section - harmonica, fiddle, steel, keys
- i even took a whack at it! But nothing said what needed to be said
til Stuart walked in and laid it down," says Julia, who came up with
the driving progression.
Stuart's interests are all over the place - he plays mandolin for OHT
when he gets the chance, has that steady jazz gig, and also runs his
own well-respected recording studio, Stonebridge Studio, where he
recently finished up Moondy Cline and Jimmy Gaudreau's last album. But
Stuart still loves to rip it up onstage, and OHT gives him that chance. |
 The quest for the perfect OHT drummer is ongoing, and while it has led to some mighty ...er....interesting moments, it has also kept the the band on its toes, helping to refine its sound as the tunes try on different grooves.
For the past year, OHT has chained 24 yr old Daniel Schwartz to the
post. Who knows what they're putting into Wheaties these days, but
there has never been a smarter, more musically aware, more mature and
savvy young drummer than Danny. Janet spotted him at the Strathmore one
evening when OHT had been invited to participate in the Dylan Tribute.
She watched him sit in with all kinds of folks that night, and carry it
off with such style and enthusiasm that she invited him on the spot to
play the next OHT show. That show went so well that Julia paid him what
she considers to be her ultimate drummer compliment, "I didn't even notice you!"
Danny has a style repertoire and vocabulary that leaves OHT scratching
its head in wonder that someone so young could have such great musical
taste, but they aren't the only band counting on him. Besides being a
much-in-demand local drummer, playing for the very busy Luke Brindley,
Danny is thoroughly-booked live sound engineer and a member in the
visionary outfit, Band House Gigs. As BHG member Dude says "How do you
like this? I met this kid when he was still in utero, and now I'm working with him!" |
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