Barnstorm

Band Members

BARNSTORM - Simple Tunes for Complex Times

Barnstorm is an acoustical band with a diverse play list, difficult to fit into a particular genre. They frequently describe the group as an Old-Time band with attitude. They play and sing mountain music, Celtic, English Country, folk, bluegrass, blues (originals and standards,) with a fondness for the humorous minstrel tunes of the 20’s and 30’s. The group books corporate gigs, church socials, weddings and private parties of all sorts, and is well known throughout the state as a premier Contra dance band. They have performed at many folk and bluegrass festivals in Florida to rousing receptions and appreciative audiences. Both as individuals and as a band the players have won many awards at competitions around the state.

Sharon Hartmann (Fiddle, Mandolin, Banjo, Percussion, Vocals)
One of the most influential old-time fiddlers in the central Florida area, Sharon has been playing fiddle for 22 years. With strong parental encouragement growing up in Ohio, Sharon began classical training at the age of 10 yrs on the violin, with banjo lessons added in as a teenager.
Sharon has a wide range of styles from her extensive experience playing fiddle music. Her foremost style is southern Appalachian mountain music, with a strong Celtic influence developed over the years. She is also at home with classical, bluegrass, blues and folk. She has been a member of orchestras, and served stints with numerous central Florida bands, including the New River String Band, Common Ground, Acoustic Wings and Pinegrove. Her impeccable intonation, syncopation and heartfelt emotion go into every song; touching and holding the listeners.
Sharon’s honors, too numerous to enumerate, include state champion in Rustic Fiddle, 2000; first place open at the Scottish Highland Games 2000, as well as 2nd place in both fiddle and mandolin at the Old-Time 2002 Music contest. Influences include Bruce Molsky, Brad Leftwich, Laurie Fisher, J.P. Fraley and Lloyd Baldwin, as well as all the talented artists she has played and studied with through the years.

Bruce Hartmann (6 String Guitar, Resophonic Guitar, Banjo, Kazoo, Percussion, and Vocals)
Bruce was raised up as a military brat, living in Japan, Virginia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, and even South and North Dakota. His parents were music lovers, and he was exposed to a wide range of musical styles from heavy classical to serious folk, with a healthy dose of pop and jazz interjected into the mix. He obtained his first guitar right about the same time as the Beatles’ debut in the USA and began a life long love affair with six strings still going strong today.
Kudos include placing first finger picking guitar at the 2000 Florida Old-Time Music Championships, a 2nd place finish finger picking guitar at the 99 Florida Old-Time Music Championships, as well as winning awards in numerous other competitions. He teaches Finger-picking Guitar at the Sunshine Music Camp annually at St. Petersburg since 2003. In years long gone he was a repeat performer at the annual Texas Independence Day Celebration playing guitar with the string band, “The Dewberries”.
Bruce’s influences are diverse, but certainly include Mississippi John Hurt, Leo Kottke, Stefan Grossman, Eric Clapton and Dan Crary. He has a powerful rhythmic style and a harmonic sense that complements both Billy and Sharon’s melody lines and Chris's “getting down low.”

Chris Campbell (Acoustic bass, Harmonica, Guitar, and Vocals) Chris began playing guitar in Rome, Italy (of all places) in his mid -teens. Chris’s father was in the U.S. State Department, so when Chris talks World Music, he means it! The Beatles were his earliest influence; today he can still sing and play way too many of those golden oldies. He took up the bass while attending the University of Texas at Austin pursuing his education degree, and continued his international seasoning with exposure to Conjunto and Tejano (Tex-Mex) vibes, Texas Swing and Traditional Country, and much much more in that world renowned Austin scene. Then, he went onto Jamaica to teach school and soak up the island sun and the Caribbean music culture. Chris played, sang, wrote and recorded music while in Kingston, building a strong base to build on when he returned to the States. Paying his dues in a succession of rock & roll and country-western bands Chris was ripe for his conversion to bluegrass and Old Time by one of Florida’s seminal musicians, Paul Champion. Recently Chris has done stints with a Gypsy Jazz band and performed as a sideman with Celtic groups. He was awarded first place honors at the 2004 Old Time Music Championships playing his harmonica “a capella”.
Chris’s energetic and deep fluent playing coupled with excellent vocals and virtuosity on several instruments gives Barnstorm a bedrock foundation to build strong melody and rhythm.

Billy Jickell (Mandolin) is one of the premier mandolin players in the state of Florida. His parents met in England during WWII; his father was a wartime hero parachuting behind enemy lines on covert missions. Billy mostly grew up in Florida. His first instrument was the guitar, and at age twelve he was already playing in a rock band called the Cosmopolitans. After a short stint with the Rubber Band as a young teenager, he helped form a three piece band called Nerve popular in the local area for cover tunes at dances and parties. He began to stretch out with this group as they incorporated original tunes into their playlist; as well as tunes by some of the more technically proficient rock groups of the era, i.e. Cream, the Beatles (during their Sgt Pepper and Revolver phase), the artistic Neil Young and other groups expanding the boundaries of pop and rock music. As a young man, he traveled the country coast to coast; not playing formally but absorbing the different cultures and styles of music nationwide until his return to Florida in the late 70’s where he’s remained ever since. Playing acoustic rock and bluegrass as a member of Seldom Heard and Against the Grain, he was exposed to the mandolin music of David Grisman, and a hardcore convert was the result. Fascinated by the rhythm and interplay between some of the premier banjo players (Tony Triska, Bela Fleck) and Grisman, along with the melody lead lines he was hearing, he decided to lay down his old guitar, took up the mandolin, and a star was born. Soon after, the late, great JU Lee (one of if not the finest Florida songwriter to date) asked him to join the string band Upsala with Andy Thomas, Kristi Hamilton, and JU’s wife Wanda, which led to a Grammy nominated album in 1998. Billy brings to Barnstorm some of the best rhythm chopping around, along with improvisational leads and melodies that add a dimension that not many groups attain. Familiar and proficient in almost all genres, Mandoman and the Storm will rock your world.

Barnstorm Productions
1209 Formosa Ave, Winter Park, 32789
407-898-2929
E-mail - Fltiger50@aol.com

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