Bio - POOR MONROE

Band Members:

ERIC LEE - fiddle/guitar/vocals

Eric Lee is a Pennsylvania-born songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has performed both regionally and internationally for over twenty years. His album, Heartache Town (2018), reached #26 most-played album in National Folk Radio Charts in 2019, and features the exquisite supporting talents of vocalist Tracy Grammer and five-time IBMA Mandolinist of the Year Jesse Brock. He has performed with and opened for artists including Lorrie Morgan, The Gibson Brothers, The Kennedys, and Peter Rowan. Performing as a solo artist and with a backing band, he also tours as a member of the Philladelphia-based bluegrass band, Man About A Horse and as an accompanist to songwriting legend, Eric Andersen. He has been a long-standing member of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival house band, and has performed regionally as a member of Maine-based bluegrass band The Gather Rounders, and as a former member of the Signature Sounds’ “Parlor Sessions’’ house band.

JOHN BENJAMIN - mandolin/vocals

John Benjamin is a mandolinist hailing from Boulder, Colorado who now resides in southern New Hampshire. Since moving to the Northeast, John has played with several bluegrass and folk bands including the Brewster Boys, the Manakins, Howard's End, and Long Journey. He also founded the tribute project Peppermint Endurance Co. that performed the music of hero John Hartford. For several years he was a member of the Parlor Sessions house band at the Parlor Room in Northampton, where he shared the stage with artists including Michael Daves, Bruce Molsky and Chris Brashear. He has won 1st place in every mandolin contest he has entered, including and exclusively limited to the 2019 Northeast Fiddler's Convention. John is also a professional naturalist and ecology teacher, and would be more than happy to talk with you after a show about fungi or amphibians.

SEAN DAVIS - guitar/vocals

Sean Davis grew up listening to and appreciating the same catalogue of music his dad listened to: British Invasion, classic country, Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, early jazz, and lots of bluegrass. When he finally started getting the hang of guitar around 12 years old, he was heavily into blues music for the longest time, but later began to focus on learning bluegrass and other genres. He now draws inspiration from a variety of songs and styles, and works every chance he gets on his passion for flat-picking guitar and developing as a collaborator. Sean has performed extensively as a member of the Pioneer Valley newgrass band Mamma's Marmalade, and also currently plays in the band Hound & Handler.

GARETH BUCKLEY - acoustic bass

Gareth “Bassman” Buckley first plucked an upright in 2002. It was love at first sight: having a full-sized wooden dancing partner was a perfect match. Soon after, he founded the bluegrass trio, the Rattlesnake Gutter Boys, the first of many ensembles that he would participate in through the years. His passion for bluegrass stemmed from many long, hot summer nights picking and grinnin’ at the Grey Fox bluegrass festival. Outside of his most recent stint as house band bassist for the Parlor Room’s “Parlor Sessions” series, he’s held up the “bottom end” in other bands including: Bombo Genesis, the Royal We, the Mother Pluckers, the Groove Miners, and the Ramblin’ Kind, who were MA Pioneer Valley favorites for over 5 years. Whether at a jam, festival, or concert hall, Gareth’s bass playing will keep that train chuggin’ down the line until everyone arrives safely at the station.

CHRIS BOUCHER - banjo/vocals

Chris has played music since the the age of seven, but it was Bela Fleck's mind-bending banjo that drew him to the instrument in the early 2000s. Chris was fortunate to study with future Stringduster Chris Pandolfi for a few years, and he’s since performed with such regional bands as Lost Mountain (western Mass.), High Strung Reunion (Boston) and the Wild Cats of Kilkenny (which featured the music of the Pogues). When he’s not playing music, Chris is likely writing fiction or teaching college courses on writing and literature; more information about his writing is available here.