Sybaritic String Band History:

The Sybaritic String Band has brought the enjoyment and merriment of driving rhythms of traditional music to dancers and lovers of music in the Pacific Northwest for over a decade. For the real meaning of "sybaritic," see our accompanying page (Sybaris 101). We have added our special energy and flair to dances in the Vancouver and Seattle regions on a regular basis. Weddings, dances, birthday celebrations, schools, community events, and dance camps have all responded enthusiastically to our unique blend of Celtic, Quebecoise, and Appalachian music. The band emerged from a previous band, the Headbender Family Pickers based in Vancouver, and has featured a number of musicians of renown in the Pacific Northwest, including Kalen Wild, Marilee Jones, Ginny Snowe, and Margie Katz. We have been featured at numerous Northwestern venues including the Seattle Folklife Festival, the Festival du Bois, the Mission Folk Festival, Chehalis Dance Camp, and the Raincoast Ruckus Festival. The band is composed of four great instrumentalists: Barry Cole (mandolin, banjo, guitar), Brian Hayden (fiddle), Geoff Peters (piano), and Rich Sobel (fiddle, mandolin).

Your community or group may wish to share in the fun that is generated by the band. We offer several venues including:

*Adult contra and square dances.
*Special events, concerts, and festivals that showcase stringed instruments or traditional North American music.
*School presentations--a mixture of music, chat, and participation in dance
*Instrumental workshops

"...For the good are always the merry save by an evil chance, And the merry love the fiddle and the merry love the dance..."
---Y.B. Yeats

Bio's:

Barry Cole (mandolin, guitar, tenor banjo, harmonica, percussion) began his musical odyssey with his father who whistled Chopin waltzes, played harmonica with Mitch Miller sing alongs, and his mother who found classical music too overwhelming so spent years singing harmonies with the local Sweet Adelines group. After graduating, he progressed sideways from classical guitar to the Bach Choir and folksong circles until he chanced to experience the dance community and developed a deep envy of the folks who were playing the tunes. Joining with other clandestine admirerers of traditional dance music, he formed a regular jam session known as "Coles Notes." Barry joined the Sybarites in 1998 and has been the mastermind behind finding good tunes to go with the good dances that are called in our halls. Rumor has it that Barry has a finger itch for playing Quebecois-style accordion.

Brian Hayden (fiddle) began playing violin when a mere 7 years old, and became addicted to old-timey music while listening to French CBC from Montreal during the cold winter nights near New York. He was a founding member of the Headbender Family Pickers and has enthused dancers in the Vancouver area for many years. He has been an avid participant at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes over the years and has played at all the venues of the Sybarites in Vancouver and Seattle. He is particularly fond of getting stuck in the grooves and the harmonies developed by other members of the band. Check out his website here.

Leith Davis (piano)

Rich Sobel's (fiddle) musical roots first established themselves at the tender age of 6 when his father began teaching him clarinet and saxophone. After failing dismally at these, he laid them down and tried singing but was a dismal failure in the grade school choir (he just couldn't remember the words). His first true muse came-a-knockin' when he encountered the guitar, Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan in the 1960's. Somewhat later, he was instrumental in forming a group in college which ultimately became known as "The Cranberry Lake Jug Band". The CLJB produced 3 albums and played major folk festivals in the US and Canada and appeared on the nationally syndicated NPR show "A Prairie Home Companion". During his 14 years in the jug band, Rich learned to play the mandolin and the fiddle and never looked back. After leaving the Jug Band, he encountered contradancing and started several local contradance bands, the most successful being a fiddle-piano duet with piano player Margaret Mathews, called "Hommage Quebecois". HQ played extensively around the NY area for about 7 years when in 1995, Rich's "real life" career took him to the Left Coast and Vancouver, British Columbia. There he fell in with a bunch of musical high-fliers known as "The Sybaritic String Band," with whom he has performed since early 1996. Rich also plays dances in the Vancouver, BC-Portland, OR corridor in a piano-fiddle duet with pianist Susan Blake. Check out his website here.