Bill plays fiddle, guitar and electric guitar in a variety of traditional and country styles, including old-time, contradance, bluegrass, western swing, honky-tonk and country-rock.
He fiddled and recorded with the Fly By Night String Band, an old-time band that toured as the opening act for bluegrass artists Bill Harrell and the Virginians, as well as with the Rock-House Gamblers, who opened for bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, former National Flatpicking Champion Orrin Star in the Sultans of String, and the Lazy Aces, who played the Philadelphia Folk Festival. He has been featured at dance camps and festivals throughout the Northeast and has won first-place honors in regional fiddle competitions. Introduced to traditional music by the New Lost City Ramblers, he has recorded with Tom Paley and John Cohen and accompanied both in concert. The Old-Time Herald and Sing Out! magazine have praised Bill’s bowing and musicianship. Bluegrass Unlimited, in reviewing his 1995 instrumental collaboration with nationally renowned banjoist Ben Freed extolled his “rich and rugged fiddling,” which spans modal Appalachian melodies, square dance tunes, Texas rags, French-Canadian reels, Irish jigs and bluegrass breakdowns. Bill has gigged with bluegrass singers John Herald (The Greenbriar Boys), Gene Yellin and Jerry Wicentowski; performed and recorded with James Reams and the Barnstormers; and collaborated with the bluegrass bands American Flyer, the Yankee Rebels, Eastbound Freight and Buddy Merriam & Back Roads. Recent endeavors have included a fiddle CD, "Hell and High Water," that won praise from Bluegrass Unlimited and the Old-Time Herald; a country-bluegrass CD with John Saroyan, "The Manhattan Valley Ramblers: Ballads & Barnburners"; and a new fiddle CD, "Making Tracks while I Can." (See discography.) Bill fiddles and sings with the New York City–based bands Hell’s Kitchen Country and Uptown Hoedown; plays for contradances with the Fish Family, Ten-Gallon Cat and Vampire Voltage. His second instrument is guitar; an alumnus of local country bands Leavin’ Trunk, Medicine Hat, Tenbrooks Molly and License to Swill, he has accompanied Texas honky-tonk singer-songwriter Teri Joyce in concert on electric guitar. Most recently, he alternates on acoustic guitar and fiddle in a vocal duet with Aron Weinbach, Lonely Street, that concentrates on mid-century country styles. |