Marc
You won't find a more solid rhythm guitar player in Idaho than Marc. He has been playing guitar and harmonica since he was a youngster and has even been seen playing the 5-string banjo and string bass! His earliest musical influence came from the folk songs of Louden Wainwright, John Prine, and Jesse Colin Young. He later found inspiration in the bluegrass styles of David Bromburg and Red White and Bluegrass. Marc spent a year as a music major at the University of Arizona, and although not too crazy about actual class time, did have a lot of fun jammin’ with his buddies on the campus lawn. He further developed his style while employed on some of the more remote ranches and cow camps in Arizona and Colorado where his only entertainment was what he could provide himself. Upon re-entering society, Marc entertained the likes of Ned Beatie and Jean Claude Kili in Steamboat Springs and sat in with the Southwest bands Joshua Stone and The Frank and Woody Show. He has jammed with Charlie Daniels, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Idaho Governor Butch Otter. Marc currently lives, works, and plays music in Stanley and Buhl, Idaho. If you find yourself entered up at a team roping and Marc is signed up, you had best pack it up and go home!
The mountains of Central Idaho are the home of this diverse mandolin player. The long winters in Stanley, Idaho, have provided ample opportunity to hone his musicianship skills as well as his telemark skiing. Dave actually began as a saxophone player, performing in a marching band and orchestra in elementary and jr. high school. The sax was put aside in high school, and since picking up the mandolin, the bluegrass music has been non-stop! Diverse musical interests have contributed to the style of Dave's playing. The Americana sounds of Tim O'Brien, Sam Bush and John Prine have all had an impact on Dave's performance style, but a glance at the CD rack in his library also reveals names like John Hiatt, Paul Simon, and Rickie Lee Jones. Over the past 12 years or so Dave has not only been seen performing with the Headwaters Band, but also at local contra dances, with The Yurt Brothers, and with Muzzie and Billy Braun. He has performed for such folks as Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator Hillary Clinton. You will hear Dave's mandolin and mandola on Muzzie Braun's The Kitchen, Leilani Jones’ Wild Mango Tango and all of the Headwaters Band recordings. Dave has also engineered and co-produced with Muzzie Braun, The Kitchen, and with Marc Kottraba, Uncommon Threads. Aside from music, fishing is his passion.
Whale sits in with the Headwaters Band more often than any other guest musician. A bass player extraordinaire, Whale also adds another lead vocal as well as a baritone harmony. Having grown up in Detroit, Michigan, Whale’s first musical inspirations were rooted in Motown and bluegrass. Since then he has spent most of his adult life in the music business. Besides playing in various bluegrass, acoustic, and rock bands in the Northwest, he owned the music store Guitar's Friend in Moscow, Idaho, and later opened another in Boise. He also plays regularly with The Yurt Brothers, The Suzie O'Leary Band, Ridgerunner, and has appeared on the past two Headwaters Band recordings. He likes hanging out on the beaches of the lower Salmon River.