Scot Ray & Bill Barrett

Scot Ray's eclectic and innovative 6, 12, & 22 string slide guitar work is informed by his many years as a professional jazz trombonist. His multi-instrument musical career has run the gamut, from work with Stray Cat Brian Setzer (which included a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental) to Cuban percussionist Francisco Aguabella, from pop icons Gwen Stefani, Jason Mraz, Dionne Warwick, & Tony Bennett to new music pioneers Nels Cline, Vinny Golia, & Mark Dresser (not to mention Caribbean cruise ships to Buddhist funeral bands). This diverse musical landscape has transported Ray to multifarious venues and festivals in over one dozen countries, including performances on David Byrne's Sessions At W. 54th Street, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and The DuMaurier Jazz Festival. In addition to having played on numerous soundtracks, including 'Stuart Little', 'Me, Myself, and Irene', and 'Three To Tango', he has also received a vote as 'rising star' from Down Beat Magazine. Ray, with intermittent excursions to perform with Gutpuppet and Steuart Liebig's Tee-tot Quartet, currently lives in a small mountain town excavating the sonic depths of slide guitar.

"Astonishing acoustic slide guitar work." - Downtown Music Gallery, NY

"Prepare to be slain by his slide-guitar grind, which is as clean, tough and rootsy as it comes." - Metaljazz, Los Angeles

"Scot Ray's slide guitar expressiveness is at one and the same time surgical and full of hearty joy, a true set of firecrackers for any guitarist AND acoustic music aficionado in general." - Touching Extremes, Italy

"Ray generates a kaleidoscopic array of sound with his dobro; from languid slides to fragmentary picking, his instrument's resonator hums with ghostly blues inflection one minute, scintillating crystalline shards the next." - All About Jazz, Troy Collins

Since moving to L.A. in 1984 Bill Barrett has performed with a wide range of sonic luminaries, from Anthony Wilson & Greg Ginn to the USC Orchestra & L.A. Philharmonic. Barrett has recorded with pop icons Terrance Howard and Natalie Merchant, along with such new music innovators as Vinny Golia, Eugene Chadbourne & Oliver Lake. As a bandleader Barrett has released several genre bending records, ranging from soul-jazz aberrations and high octane blues to modal chamber jazz on the Los Angeles Punk label SST and the renowned Ninewinds jazz label. Barrett has been a featured performer and clinician at several international harmonica festivals including SPAH in Columbus Ohio in 2002 and Harmonica Sur Cher in France in 2005. In addition to Gutpuppet, Barrett currently plays in several innovative music groups including Hazmat Modine, Marc Ford's Neptune Blues Club, and Steuart Liebig's Mentones.

"Barrett is probably the most complete harmonicist on the market today, able to offer low-budget Delta abstractions and Allan Holdsworth-like lyrical contrivances in the space of thirty seconds." - Touching Extremes, Italy

"Bill Barrett plays the harmonica. Simply stated, he is one of the most cogent and arresting soloists ON ANY INSTRUMENT playing today. I kid you not. Listen to this shit! He goes from classic blues harp to fucking campfire memories to ghostly shakuhachi rushes without ever losing the moan and shriek of the blues. His playing is consistently haunted. It haunts the music like a spectre, imbuing each moment it inhabits with what David Briggs called "The Spook." - Nels Cline