Autumn Rose - banjo, vocals
Another New York refugee. I'm from up-state New York-farm country. My mother's family is the musical,creative side. My uncle introduced me to music on this huge radio that had about 30 buttons-only on/off&volume seemed to work... Hank Snow,Hank Williams,The Carter Family,Spike Jones. We came to California with the I.B.M.invasion in the early 1970's. My early music training was in flute and voice. I guess, when I was a teenager, the parental units wanted to keep me out of trouble, so they offered private lessons, on any instrument but drums. Now, keep in mind, the time frame is approx 1976 - girl guitarists were common....Banjo is fun, different, can't play sad music. After about a year of lessons, my father felt I should be able to maintain a banjo... so I put together a Stewart-MacDonald resonator banjo kit over the course of a year.... then, real life....college....job...husband.....workers comp injury...divorce....picked my banjo back up & haven't put it down yet.... will accept donations in three digit amounts to stop!! And, too many guitarists refuse to even try "Blackberry Blossom" - can always count on The Fall Guys!!!
Hank Van Buren - guitar, vocals
Hank is originally from Poughkeepsie, NY where he grew up near legendary Woodstock. His music career began as a bass player in rock bands that played college mixers and clubs over most of the northeast, Hank switched to guitar and moved his style more toward country/rock music in the late 70's at which time He started writing songs. Feeling the call of the road he pulled up his East Coast roots and moved to San Jose in 1989. In 1994 with a country group 'The Feather River Band' Hank first started playing his own original songs . In 1998 Hank Co-Founded a Country Rock band "The Grateful Dudes" in 2002 the Dudes released there CD 'Dudes in The Dog House' on which Hank wrote 8 of the songs. Hank left the Dudes in early 2003 and struck out on his own as a singer/songwriter. Recording his own CD 'Angel,Witch, and Wolves'. In June of 2003 Hank met Monica Ashton at an open mic in Mountain View CA. In Sept. he and Monica formed VanAsh, combining country music and jazz fusion into their own unique sound. With the departure of the "Ash" in VanAsh, the group evolved into Autumn and the Fall Guys. And move in the direction of Bluegrass and Country.
Chris Martin - guitar, vocals
Chris Martin is virtually a California native, who grew up in the Oakland and San Francisco areas. While he primarily listened to the modern/alternative rock of the '80s and '90s, he also developed an appreciation for a wide range of styles, from classic to metal, jazz to acoustic folk and Celtic.
After working as a software engineer for many years, he decided to take his love of music to a new level by learning to play guitar. He studied at Skyline College for several semesters before hitting the open-mic circuit, where he found a great community of supportive and talented musicians. One such musician was Hank Van Buren. They became friends and eventually started playing open-mic sets together. When Hank started his band VanAsh, Chris soon became the band's unofficial roadie and backup sound man.
Recently Chris became one of several volunteers that help to run the Thursday-night open-mic at the Blue Rock Shoot in Saratoga, where he can often be found running the sound board. "There is a terrific energy at these open-mics," Chris is quoted as saying, "and it's great to have a chance to give something back to this community."
About the same time, Chris began attending a weekly bluegrass jam in Palo Alto, long a stomping ground of Autumn's. This not only provided a chance to expand his repertoire, but was a great crash course in following other kinds of instruments. Autumn has commented on occasion that Chris and Hank are two of the few people she knows willing to play guitar on Blackberry Blossom, one of her favorite numbers. When VanAsh was reformed as "Autumn and the Fall Guys", Chris was invited to join the band full time. He now lends his steady rhythm guitar to the band's unique and varied sound.
Chris Purdum - bass, vocals
Chris grew up a small town called Cortland in northeast Ohio, and has been involved in music since before he was born. His father is a music teacher (see Alan in photos) and his mother is a life-long singer in choirs. Chris has put his musical skills to use singing in various choirs, playing trombone in various ensembles, and playing bass and guitar and singing in bands.
Chris picked up the bass in high school, when he and his two brothers put together a garage band they called Tyrin. The brothers all wrote their own songs, and played some covers as well. After college, Chris re-introduced himself to the bass, playing in a basement band in Columbus, Ohio with CompuServe co-workers called various names such as "Off by One" or "Shunpike."
In April 2002, Chris moved to the SF Bay Area as part of his day job as a Software Engineer. Out here he joined an eclectic folk-rock/country-rock group called the Stragglyrs and discovered Red Rock Coffee's open mic night, where he met the various assorted other members of the group VanAsh. One night after one of their shows, they told him if he was going to be coming to all their shows, he might as well bring his bass, so he did. With the departure of the "Ash" in VanAsh, the group evolved into Autumn and the Fall Guys.
Bill Mishler - drums, vocals
Bill grew up in the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania and lived in
Ohio and Indiana before moving to San Jose in 1998, where he co-founded the
Stragglyrs, a folk-rock and country rock band, in 2000. He drummed and sang
with a country rock band, Cowboy Bill & the Richland County Rangers, in
1981-82 in Ohio and drummed with Cats Rule, a jazz-flavored folk-rock band,
in 1997-98 in Fort Wayne. His influences include the Byrds, Neil Young, Buck
Owens & the Buckaroos, the Grateful Dead, Pure Prairie League, Bonnie Raitt,
Emmylou Harris and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. A career journalist,
editor and writer, he enjoys writing songs that rock and that remind people
of the endless struggle against greed, paranoia and hate -- and the wars and
poverty they cause.
Tom Thompson - electric guitar, vocals
Tom hails from the Detroit area, and has been playing guitar since he was
14. At 15 he joined a band playing “Top 40” covers. His family moved to
the SF Bay area in ’67; “an incredible time for guitar oriented music,
ESPECIALLY in this neck of the woods!”, he points out. “As a guitar
player, I was in heaven!”
Tom’s been in numerous groups over the years and has been a member of the
Stragglyrs since ’04, and of Autumn and the Fall Guys since ’09.
“This is a great bunch of folks! I’m really happy to have met up with
them all and to be able to contribute to the fun!”, declares Tom.