As has become tradition, the Byron Berline Band will close the Summer Breeze season with a free concert in Norman’s Andrews Park Amphitheater at 7:30 PM on September 23.  Bring refreshments, perhaps a blanket, and enjoy an evening of lively bluegrass and country swing music!

Three time national fiddle champion, Byron Berline has played with the best.  In 1965, while still a student at OU,  he played the Newport Folk Festival, where he met the legendary Bill Monroe.  Monroe invited him to join The Blue Grass Boys.  Immediately after graduating from OU in 1967, Berline did so.  His first appearance with The Blue Grass Boys was at the Grand Ole Opry.  But after just six months with the group, Berline was drafted.

After serving in the army, he was invited to join the Dillard and Clark Expedition. While with that group, Berline moved to Los Angeles, where he soon became one of the most popular fiddlers in the music business.  His long list of recording credits includes The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, The Byrds, Alabama, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris, Tammy Wynette, Mason Williams, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Vince Gill. 
 
In 1970 he scored the ABC television movie Run Simon Run, the first of many films he would score.  He has extensive television and movie sound track credits and appeared in Star Trek. Blaze, Back to the Future III and Basic Instinct.
 
Berline has recorded seven solo albums, including the highly acclaimed Fiddle & A Song, with guest performances by Vince Gill, Mason Williams, Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe.  In 1996, the album was nominated for two Grammy Awards: “Best Album of the Year” and “Best Song of the Year.”

Berline returned to Oklahoma in 1995, opening the Double Stop Fiddle Shop in Guthrie with a Music Hall above the shop.  The current band was soon brought together.  They have performed all across the nation. 
 
Band members include the legendary John Hickman on banjo, Jim Fish on guitar, Richard Sharp on bass, and Steve Short on drums.
 
Hickman, regarded as one of the great masters of the banjo, continues an almost 30 year collaboration with Berline.  His work can be found on major studio sessions as well as motion picture and television soundtracks.  He has played with bluegrass greats such as Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and Earl Taylor’s Stoney Mountain Boys.
 
Guitar player Jim Fish began his career playing a washboard in a jug band in the early 60’s, but the lure of the guitar was too powerful to deny.  Jim lists diverse influences including Don Rich, George Harrison, Roger McGuinn and Clarence White.  Jim’s interest in Clarence White’s singular guitar playing guided him towards bluegrass music.  Fish uses a “vintaged” Triggs acoustic guitar, and a Telecaster with a string-bender device to contribute to the sound of the Berline Band.

Richard Sharp plays a mean left-handed upright and electric bass.  He too has kept busy with numerous recording sessions and has shared the stage with a long list of famous names.  Richard’s showmanship and vocal contributions to the band bring a nice variety and lots of fun.
 
Drummer Steve Short has recorded and played with numerous big names, including three years with Reba McIntyre.  He is also an accomplished recording and sound engineer, and produces the Byron Berline Band’s album projects.
 
For more information, call The Performing Arts Studio at 405-307-9320.  For information on the Byron Berline Band, visit www.doublestop.com/bbbandbio.html
 
The Performing Arts Studio produces Summer Breeze Concerts, which are made possible in part by grants from the Norman Arts Council, Oklahoma Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Sponsors include Mark Miller; Jamie Belknap D.D.S. and Donna Sparks D.D.S.; Skye Diers, Gingerbread Nursery School; and Victor T. Wilson, M.D. P.C., Caring Pediatrics.  Contributors include Corner Post Management and Consulting; Physical Therapy Central; and Republic Bank and Trust. 

Friends include Ed and Sumya Adwon; American First Abstract Co; The Crucible; The Earth Natural Foods; First State Bank, Noble; David Fries Roofing, MDS Plumbing, Pepe Delgados, Cardinal Engineering, T. J. Campbell Construction and The Zoo Amphitheater. In-kind support comes from Montford Inn; Residence Inn of Norman; The Deli; Norman Parks and Recreation Department; and the Summer Breeze Stage Crew.