| January
1996: Florida bound |
 Chris
Demers (right) drove to Gainesville, FL from Saratoga Springs,
NY, to pay Bill Casey (left), a buddy from college, a visit,
do some pickin' and check out north Florida. A couple of Upstate
New Yorkers, these guys met in college, playing music on the
weekends, going to see all sorts of live music, and just plain
having a blast. Bill came to Florida for graduate study at
UF. Shortly after Chris arrived in town they went to see Bobby
Blue Bland at a place called Vick's Supper Club in Palatka..
On their way back to Gainesville from Vick's, where they served
up a mean fried porkchop sandwhich, they got to talking about
fried food, boilin' oil, and hey, boilin' oil sure would make
a cool name for a band! There you have it. They called their
blues / bluegrass duet "Boilin' Oil" and started
playing out in Gainesville, with a regular Friday gig at the
books-a-Million cafe - woo hoo! |
| 1999
- 2001: The Trio |
 Bill
eventually made his way back to the North Country of NY while
Chris stuck around Florida for a while, got married, got a job
and met other musicians to continue the musical journey. He
began jamming regularly with Gregg Klowden (second from left),
friend and blues harmonica player; and eventually met up with
Karl Miller, a fellow guitar picker with a taste for flatpicking
guitar, bluegrass, folk and all kinds of music. The 3 began
jamming every Thursday night and performed a few gigs here and
there as Boilin' Oil. The fellow on the far left in the photo
is Gregg's father, Ron. |
| 2002
- 2003: Enter Max |
 In
August of 2002 The Shamrock Pub in Gainesville began hosting
a bluegrass jam. Chris met mandolinist, Max Williams (center),
who was very interested in getting a bluegrass band started.
A week after this, Karl, Max and Chris played at an open mic
at the Mellow Mushroom pizza place in Gainesville, had a blast,
and continued to practice and play several gigs over the next
year. |
| Summer
and Fall 2003: "Kaz" on the bass |
|  Karl
took a break from band activities in the summer and fall of
2003 while Max and Chris continued to practice and work up
more songs. In August of 2003, Chris invited Jeff Kazmierski,
a solid bluegrass bass player out of Lake City, to jam with
he and Max. Jeff's bass provided the drive they needed to
fill out their sound a bit and the three continued to practice
regularly and perform. One of the peak performances of this
trio took place at the North Florida Bluegrass Expo in Hoboken
GA, pictured here.
|
| Fall
2003 - Spring 2004: Boilin' Otis?? |
| Max, Jeff
and Chris were scheduled to perform at the High Springs farmers
market in November 2003. Just before that gig they decided
to join forces with Mark Archer on dobro and Andrew Cook on
fiddle, who were fresh off an appearance at the Telluride
Bluegrass Festival with their previous band, Otis and the
Lazy Bones. The quintet began practicing regularly after that,
developing a repertoire heavy on bluegrass favorites, along
with originals and newgrass takes on blues, pop, and jazz
tunes. The peak performance of this line-up was at the former
Theatre of Memory in High Springs in January 2004. |
|
Spring 2004 - Winter 2005: Berl n' Earl |
| With Jeff off to Colorado,
Andrew working and exploring in Equador and Mark busy with
life, Max and Chris pushed on as a duet, focusing on the old
time pickin and singin traditions of the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Playing duet arrangements of songs recorded by the Stanley
Brothers, Bill and Charlie Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Jimmy
Martin, and others, they sometimes perform as Berl n' Earl. |
|
Winter 2005: Capt. Peyton, bass man (when he's not
fishin') |
| John Petyon, formerly of the
"Peyton Brothers", North Florida bluegrass sensation
of the 1970s, met Chris at a Gainesville acoustic jam session
in December. Chris invited him to jam with him and Max a few
weeks later. The three hit it off and were the next incarnation
of Boilin' Oil. |
|
Winter 2006 - Present: Banjo in bluegrass!?
What a novel idea! |
| Arnold Messer spotted us warming up for
a performance at the Starke Fall Arts Fest in October 2005.
He wasn't shy and asked if he could jam on a few with us on
the banjo before we got on stage. He kept asking us who plays
banjo with us and we strategically dodged the question (saying
the banjo player fell off the top of the car on the way over
and stuff like that). Well, he has his answer now. Arnold started
practicing with us in December 2005 and has been an enthusiastic,
contributing member of the band. He came up with that Ticky-Ticky-Ticky
tune and Leavin' Town on the Boilin' Oil CD.
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