TALENT

Blue Canyon Boys
Winners of the 2008 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, The Blue Canyon
Boys have been picking and entertaining audiences with their unique style of bluegrass in the Colorado area for over four years. This high energy, bluegrass powerhouse consists of Gary Dark on mandolin, Jason Hicks on guitar, Drew Garrett on bass, and Jeff Scroggins on banjo. Blending incredible brother-duet-style vocals and hard-driving instrumental proficiency, this energetic band has quickly become a mainstay of the Front Range bluegrass scene. The Blue Canyon Boys have released three CDs consisting of well-crafted originals and great traditional songs: Just An Ol’ Dirt Road (2006), Hello City Limits (2008), House Full of Sorrow (2009).

Originally from Kentucky, vocalist and mandolinist Gary Dark has been performing
for more than 15 years. Carrying on a tradition of music handed down through his
family of bluegrass and folk musicians, he started out on the guitar at the age of
11. Gary has performed music in a variety of bands throughout the western United
States and has been immersed in bluegrass for well over a decade. A founding
member of Colorado-based bluegrass bands Howlin’ Dog Moon and The
Stanleytones, Gary was singled out by Bluegrass Unlimited in a review of The
Stanleytones release Half A Dozen Heartaches: “It is the lead vocals of Gary Dark
that gives The Stanleytones much of their musical personality”. Gary, along with
Jason Hicks, founded The Blue Canyon Boys in 2003.

Guitarist and vocalist Jason Hicks, who hails from Labadie, Missouri, has been
performing music for over 15 years. He earned his B.F.A. from Webster University
in St. Louis, where he studied jazz theory, improvisation, and composition on the
guitar. Jason moved to the Boulder, Colorado area in 1998 and began performing
as a singer-songwriter and developing his unique style of bluegrass guitar. Now
making his home in Lyons, Colorado, Jason has been featured in and is a
contributing author to Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. It is also Jason’s singing which
contributes to the Blue Canyon Boys’ sound: “When he duets with Gary you would
swear they are brothers.” They swear they are not.

Jeff Scroggins grew up in rural Oklahoma listening to his grandfather perform old
time country music. As a teenager Jeff fell in love with rock and roll guitar and at
nineteen bought his first banjo. Attending his first Walnut Valley Festival in 1983 in
Winfield, Kansas, his life was changed forever after hearing performers such as
The Newgrass Revival, The David Grisman Quintet, Hot Rize, and more. It was
also there that Jeff met James McKinney, the cult-like banjo master, whom Jeff
cites as the banjo player who influenced him most profoundly. Oklahoma banjo
legend Alan Munde was another huge influence and Jeff’s first banjo teacher.
Throughout the mid to late 1980s Jeff entered and won numerous banjo contests,
the culmination of which was winning the prestigious National Bluegrass Banjo
Championship in Winfield, Kansas in September, 1989. He later became a
founding member of the Andy Owens Project, the band performed throughout the
United States, Russia, and Japan. Jeff has performed with many of the top names
in bluegrass music, including David Peterson, Beppe Gambetta, Steve Kaufman,
Tim O’Brien, Peter Rowan, Andy Owens, early incarnations of the Dixie Chicks,
and Big Twang. Jeff has done extensive studio work in Dallas, Austin and
Nashville, including numerous radio and TV commercials, music for movies, and
projects with recording artists that include Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Mark Schatz,
David Grier, Jerry Douglas, Sara Hickman, Patty Mitchell-Lege, Dave Peters,
Randy Howard, Steve Kaufman, and even rock and roll legend Steve “Guitar”
Miller. In 1996 Jeff was inducted into the Texas Tornadoes, an unofficial Texas
Music Hall of Fame, whose membership includes Texas music legends Stevie Ray
Vaughan, Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons and more. He recently returned to the
2006 National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas, placing 2nd,
and recently captured first place honors at the 2007 Texas State Banjo
Championship in Montgomery, Texas.

Since his first recording session in Hollywood, California at the age of 9, Drew
Garrett has been performing in a variety of country, rock, and bluegrass groups.
Spending a majority of his time in Texas, where he studied music at Stephen F.
Austin State University, playing first-chair bass in the symphony, founding the
award winning bluegrass group The Fredonia Rebellion, and performing with the
critically acclaimed and commercially successful country-rock group Melrose. In
1985, Drew, along with friend Andy Owens, formed Danger in the Air, an award
winning and highly innovative bluegrass group. Rounding out this group were
banjo wizard James McKinney, fiddle master Stephan Dudash, and future Dixie
Chick Robin Macy. Drew later played with Domestic Science Club, recording two
albums for Discovery/Elektra records. After moving to Colorado, Drew performed
with the Stanleytones, Hank and the Hankstirs, and Orphan Boy. He currently
owns and operates Sounds Right Recording studios.

Winners of the 2008 Telluride Bluegrass festival band competition and second place
runners up at the 2008 Rocky Grass festival band competition, the Blue Canyon Boys offer a unique style of Colorado Bluegrass steeped in Tradition with enough excursions to keep all types of music lovers tapping their feet. This bluegrass powerhouse consists of Gary Dark on mandolin, Jason Hicks on guitar, Drew Garrett on bass, and Jeff Scroggins on banjo. Blending incredible brother-duet-style
vocals and hard-driving instrumental proficiency, this energetic band is driving
audiences to their feet and keeping them there. With three well-received
recordings of originals and interpretations of traditional songs by the likes of Monroe,
Stanley and McReynolds the Blue Canyon Boys have become one of Colorado’s most
celebrated Front Range Bluegrass Bands.

Here’s what people are saying about the Blue Canyon Boys
“The Blue Canyon Boys are a musical force to be reckoned with.”
(Bluegrass Now Sept. 08)
“Impeccable timing and tasteful licks…not a dull moment.” (Bluegrass
Music Profiles Sept. 08)
As the Blue Canyon Boys continue to grow and evolve, they could
very well develop into a force to be reckoned with. (BlueGrass
Unlimited, July 08)
“The Blue Canyon Boys—have made it clear that their style of
Bluegrass Music is not just more of the same (same ole songs same ole
arrangements). Instead it is a unique, original style and sound that
features fresh songs, solid picking and wonderful brother duet style
vocals! Catch them live to get the full taste or check out the new record
Hello City Limits.” (Woody Platt, Steep Canyon Rangers)
“The Blue Canyon Boys have a lot of talent and energy, and this
record (Hello City Limits) has some outstanding singing and picking”
(Pete Wernick)
“The high lonesome brother-duet style harmonies are alive and well in
Colorado. (Brian Eyster, Planet Bluegrass)
“The Telluride competition is among the toughest, with high quality
judges, all of whom are particular and discerning when it comes to
judging this great music. The Blue Canyon Boys stood the test and
deservingly walked away with the prize. It takes a great band to do
that.” (Sally Van Meter)

Performances of Note
Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride CO.
Bluegrass on the River, Pueblo Co.
The Durango Meltdown, Durango Co.
The Nebraska Bluegrass Festival, Lincoln Ne.
Pickin’ on the Plains, Colby Ks.
The Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, Co.