About

The Todalo Shakers include Eric Thompson on mandolin, resonator guitar and banjo-guitar, W.B. Reid on banjo-guitar and fiddle, Suzy Thompson on fiddle and guitar, Frannie Leopold on guitar, and Matt Weiner on bowed bass. Four of the Todalo Shakers sing, making for a rich palette of vocal blends. "Tickled, Too", scheduled for release on June 1, 2011, was recorded in WB Reid's Seattle living room, making for a great feeling of camaraderie; the exuberance and fondness that the musicians feel for their material and for each other is unmistakable.

Fiddler Suzy Thompson's playing was prominently featured on several recent releases of jug band/roots music: "Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks" (with Jim Kweskin, Cindy Cashdollar, Stephen Bruton); two releases by Maria Muldaur ("Barnyard Dance" and the Grammy-nominated "Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy") and Suzy's duet CD with resonator guitarist Del Rey, "Hen Party" (which also features bassist Matt Weiner.) Eric Thompson's old time roots go way back to Jerry Garcia's pre-Grateful Dead band, the Black Mountain Boys. In the Todalo Shakers, Eric plays mostly mandolin, occasionally picking up the resonator guitar or guitar-banjo. For the past 25 years, he's been performing award-winning Cajun dance music in the California Cajun Orchestra, great traditional Bluegrass with the Bluegrass Intentions, and most recently, with Kleptograss (an all-star group with Jody Stecher and Scott Nygaard.) He's also done collaborations with David Nelson (New Riders), Henry Kaiser, Alan Senauke, and Chad Manning, and he and Suzy perform as a duo. But for fun, the Thompsons get together with friends to play other kinds of acoustic music. Every so often, they manage to hook up with 3 other longtime musical compatriots to play vintage jug band blues and old time rags & stomps which sound like they are lifted right out of 1928 in Memphis, Tennessee or Mineola, Texas.

The other Todalo Shakers include Mendocino's Frannie Leopold, who plays guitar, has toured with New Mexico's Bayo Seco, and has toured and recorded with Hank Bradley and Cathie Whitesides as the Balkan Kafe Orchestra. W.B. Reid, who makes his home in Seattle, Washington, mostly plays banjo-guitar with the Todalo Shakers, sometimes picking up the fiddle. W.B. spent some of his formative years during his early twenties hanging out in San Diego with bluesman Sam Chatmon, who was in the legendary string band the Mississippi Sheiks. More recently, W.B. has been playing with the Tallboys (Seattle's hottest old time string band),and has toured and recorded with the Carolina Jug Stompers and with his wife, Bonnie Zahnow. The newest Todalo Shaker is Seattle bassist Matt Weiner, who boasts a long resume including stints with the Asylum Street Spankers and the Hot Club of Cowtown; he currently plays with the Blue Four Trio and with Del Rey.