Randy Utterback

Randy hails from Council Bluffs, Iowa but lives in Paonia, Colorado and just entered his Twenty-third year performing music. Randy plays: electric and acoustic guitar, fiddle, mandolin and Dobro. He is currently performing with several bands on the Western Slope of Colorado, including John Adams, John Sommers, Twirp Anderson, Rodeo Cool, The Crystal River Band, and with Jimmy Ibbotson and John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirtband. Among several recordings with various artists Randy has performed and opened shows with the like of Travis Tritt, John Conlee, Dan Seals, Russell Smith & The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Pirates of the Mississippi, Buck Trent of Hee Haw, The Subdudes, The Three Twins and The Flying Dog Blue Grass Band. He also made his debut of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, performing with Pastor Mustard and Washboard Chaz, with John Magnee and Tim O*Brian, of which part of their set made it on “The Alive at Twenty-Five” CD from 1998, the 25th Anniversary of The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. “He is simply a genius on his instruments”, John Adams says! Randy also explores his affinity for Classic Chevrolet Pickup Trucks and remodels and builds houses.

 
  Dave Harding

Dave Harding’s interest in music stems from his father’s pursuits as a jazz saxophonist for Stan Kenton, Nat King Cole and others. At age ten David began experimenting with piano, flute and drums but found that he excelled on guitar. After a music scholarship to Eastern Washington University, David took his career to Nashville where he worked as a session player. Throughout his career he has shared the stage with Ricky Skaggs, The Oak Ridge Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Denver, John Oates (of Hall and Oates), Jimmy Ibbotson of The Nitty Gritty Dirtband and many others. Dave also had the honor of playing the National Anthem for the Colorado Rockies! For the last 7 years David has performed at the Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis Hotels in Aspen and has performed for many corporate events. He has made a network appearance on Good Morning America. David has produced and engineered numerous albums, including several of his own. In 1999 he co-wrote and produced an album with Seraina McCarty entitled “It’s Time Now”, for an Art Exhibition held at the United Nations and the music for the PBS special “One Thousand Years Of Peace”.

   Sally Peterson (Guest Band Member)

Sally was born and raised in New Jersey. At the age of 21 I moved to New York City to pursue her dream of musical theatre.  She pounded the pavement and landed her first professional job with a summer stock company where they did 12 musicals in 12 weeks.  She called it boot camp theatre. She made $110.00 a week and it was one of the best times of her life. She then worked with The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players performing at New York’s Symphony Space and various tours. She really felt burned out and flew out to Denver to visit her older sister Laurie. Two weeks has turned into 25 years.  Sally sings with a great female vocal trio called "Les Femmes Fatales" and is much honored to be the musical director of “Unity of The Mountains”.  To balance out her life (and pay the bills) Sally works as a skin care specialist at The Vail Mountain Lodge and Spa. She has always loved John Denver’s music (and still has her LP's) so singing with John Adams is always a joy. Life is good and Sally feels truly blessed to be doing what she loves.

  Guido Bos (Guest Band Member)

  Ad Welten (Guest Band Member)

  Ben Jansen (Guest Band Member)

At age seven, Ben asked if he could join a drum band in Nijmegen, Holland. He received a snare drum from the local organization to practice and pretty soon after that he added pots and pans en lids in order to create his own drum kit. He really got the hang of it when his instructor taught him how to play and Ben became very enthusiastic. Ben’s older brother, Johan, played the guitar and was looking with his band for a drummer. Ben was invited to join his brother’s band, which was practicing in a garage. From there they started to play at community events and local parties. At the age of eleven, Ben became the drummer of a youth choir and after mandatory choir rehearsals they started to play music of The Beatles, Rolling Stones and the like. He left the drum band and joined a music school in order to receive quality drum instruction. He learned different styles of music like Jazz and Latin-American, which were educated by highly qualified teachers. He really became inspired and when he was only 12 years old, Ben performed during the summer holidays at Tony Boltini’s circus, a very well-known and famous circus in Europe. About 3 years later, he joined several bands that played a diversity of music like Blues, Big band, Jazz and others. His whole life became playing in different bands and Ben hardly had any time for school. The earnings were good and he was invited to perform with the Major Dundee Band. Never the intension to become a professional drummer, Ben started to study music at the Conservatory in Rotterdam, where he graduated in 1988. In 1983 Ben auditioned for a very popular Dutch band “Kadanz” and after 2 weeks Ben had his first TV performance with that band. Other popular bands showed their interest in Ben and shortly after that he became a member of V.O.F. de Kunst, The Art Company, The Shorts, and toured though many European countries. In 1991 he joined “Tulsa”, one of Holland’s most popular country bands. Besides their own program they performed with Vince Gill, Steve Wariner, and Kathy Chiavola. Ben had the privilege to travel with his bands to countries like; The Philippines, Austria, France, England, Bulgaria, Romania, East Germany and many more. After performing with so many bands, Ben now works as freelance drummer and is a music teacher at the Regional Education Center in Almelo, Holland, and also coaches bands. Ben is happily married to Tatiana and together they have four children.