John Balsley w/ Richard Wiegel

John Will Balsley grew up in a family of artist but the only musician. He became interested in playing music while attending the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. John started listening to old rock and roll from the 50s and 60s as well as classic rock. He then started listening to old folk music originally such as Woody Guthrie and blues musicians such as Charlie Patton, Blind Willie McTell and John Lee Hooker to name only a few.
Later John started listening to older Tin Pan Alley music and old jazz and discovered musicians such as Cab Calloway, Frankie Half Pint Jaxon and Tampa Red as well as more contemporary musicians such as Tom Waits and Holly Golightly. Along with the older Jazz he also started studying old Klezmer music, Russian folk tunes and other Eastern European music.

Richard Wiegel has been a fixture on the Wisconsin music scene for more than 30 years. In groups like the The Midwesterners, Johnny and the Hawaiians, Out of the West, The Swing Crew, Clicker and the Bowery Boys, Richard's guitar playing has always been exciting and stirring.

Now he has added solo acoustic performance to his credentials. Combining several genres of music, from rock to ragtime, blues to jug band music, jazz to rockabilly, Richard blends them semlessly into an entertaining show. Taking a cue from Chet Atkins, Doc Watson, and Mississippi John Hurt, Richard plays in the finger-picking style pioneered by these giants.