Banana – vocals, 5 string tenor guitar, tenor guitar, guitar,
mandolin, mandola , dobro
David Thom- vocals, mandolin
Sam Page – bass
David Grisman – mandolin on Naughty Sweetie & Pretty Saro
Chad Manning – fiddle
Ethan Turner – drums on The Millionaire
Hugh Levinger – drums on Cora Is Gone
Banana began his career in bluegrass on the east coast in Boston with "Banana and the Bunch, Old Time Music with Appeal". After several years in the east coast folk scene, he formed The Youngbloods with Joe Bauer, Jesse Colin Young, and Jerry Corbitt. The band moved from New York City to West Marin in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1967.
While he has played as a sideman on many recordings and produced a home grown artisan solo CD sold only at certified organic distribution outlets, this is Banana’s first studio production in over three decades. Having a respectable number of grandchildren now, he figures if the personna of Grandpa Jones worked then Grandpa Banana should be equally successful and perhaps more forthright.
The combination of Jesse’s golden pipes and Banana’s Guild M-75 and Wurlitzer piano gave the Younbloods their signature sound. Guitarists might ‘hear’ a different sounding guitar on this new CD. Banana’s current innovation is the 5 string Tenor Guitar. It has a short scale length and is tuned in fifths F C G D A from the bottom up. It’s tons of fun to play and sounds great. But there’s some fine 6 string guitar picking on this CD as well as the old banjo, heaven help us.