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Bio
The Snopes Family Band has a unique combination of strings, brass, and rhythm, along with the only sousaphone in town! The Snopes Family plays a dynamic range of songs from the soulful spirit of New Orleans blues to the gritty sounds of the North Mississippi hill country. The Snopes Family is sure to bring an explosive mix of eclectic guitar, drums and raging trumpet, all while backed by the best sousaphone player in the upstate.
The Snopes Family Band started in 2010 as a weekly jam session between friends Neil Conway, John Pursley, and Tim Cassell. Neil was a founding member of Three Legged Dog from Oxford, Mississippi, where he shared the stage with notable bluesmen such as Willie Foster, Cedric and Garry Burnside, Kenny Kimbrough, Eric Deaton, Jay Lang and many others. Now Neil shares singing duties with Tim, the trumpet playing wild man from Detroit who was kicked out of his middle school marching band for being a generally maladjusted youth. He continued playing trumpet without institutional aid, and now acts as a maladjusted youth in the band as well. John played drums as a boy on the farm near Kansas City, and still had a drum set with him from his school days, so they decided that he should be the drummer, as no one else has a set. They are joined by Frank Bentley, who played trombone in Sumuhdat, a full brass band based out of Charlotte. Now Frank plays the sousaphone, which gives the upbeat New Orleans flavor to the Snopes Family gumbo. Frequently, they are joined by “Captain” Jack Bergman, a dual threat harmonica player/percussionist who has been a major player in the vibrant music scene around the Cincinnati area.
The Snopes Family is named after an eccentric fictional family from a series of William Faulkner novels, as two of the bands members, Neil and John, are both college English teachers.
The Snopes Family Band has performed for the 2013 Clemson Blues Festival. They have performed on live television on Your Carolina, have played for the Greenville Drive, and perform annually at the Art Bomb’s Spring Show along with having had the pleasure of playing many bars, night clubs and private parties in the upstate area.