BIO
What started as regular jam sessions in the living room many years ago, blossomed over the years into a full-time band with a couple lineup changes and lots of gigs.
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The line up consists of Stephanie Groot, Ted Brown, Brent Bond, Mark McDowell and Kenny Skaggs playing a mix of original tunes and some re-worked, underappreciated covers. Instruments include violin, mandolin, assorted guitars, pedal steel, lap steel, percussion and harmonica…with all members contributing to the vocals.
The band has several EPs and a full-length record to their credit…the most recent being, “Glitter and Kerosene”.
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Their work can be heard on all streaming platforms.
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Live engagements take them out more than 100 nights a year.
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Mark is a Scottsdale based artist and musician holding down rhythm guitar duties and vocals with the Dusty Ramblers. Along with the entire band, Mark helps to arrange the songs and works to book gigs and do logistics. He also contributes to the promotional artworks used for gig dates. His studio artworks can be seen at markmcdowellartist.com
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Ted Brown landed in the valley in 1974 after four years in the Air Force, trained as a weapons mechanic and illustrator. Licensed as a Realtor, he specialized in negotiations between contractors and homeowners. Ted also did restorations on exotic automobiles and played in several garage bands. Ted wrote most of the original songs the band plays and continues to write and perform. Loves old pirate movies. Harrrrrrr!
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Brent is an artist, master printer/print publisher, furniture designer/maker, educator and most recently a self-taught musician. He can be seen keeping three limbs pretty busy, usually with his eyes closed. With a foot shaker and cajon he keeps the pace and with harmonica and vocals adds to the sonic texture that defines the Rambler sound. Examples of his print work can be found at santopress.com.
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Stephanie Groot is a classically trained violinist and has been working in the valley for nearly 40 years. She’s been a full-time member of The Dusty Ramblers Project for nearly 10 years and can now be seen playing mandolin, guitar, and bass guitar and singing, in addition to fiddling around. Come spin the wheel of fate in our audience and see which instrument she picks up next!
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The newest Rambler is pedal steel guitar player Kenny Skaggs. Kenny has been performing in the Valley for fifty years with some of the area's best musicians. He also toured for 22 years with Glen Campbell playing guitar, mandolin, and pedal steel, and singing backup harmony vocals.​
MUSIC
