Perfect Strangers

Perfect Strangers is a new band of established bluegrass veterans and exciting new talent that has been generating a lot of interest and enthusiasm. All the band members sing and four are songwriters. Perfect Strangers’ presentation is unusually warm and friendly, their repertoire unique and their music outstanding.

Chris Brashear is a charismatic singer with a high, clear voice, a dynamic instrumentalist, and a songwriter with a penchant for writing memorable, perhaps classic, bluegrass songs on topics other than failed love. He has been Laurie Lewis’s bassist (and she his), the fiddler for Kentucky Rose, and played jazz violin with the Maurizio Geri Swingtet. Chris is the band’s fiddler.

On the banjo is Bob Black, a veteran of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. He played with Bill for 2 solid years and has performed and recorded with Kenny Baker, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, John Hartford, Frank Wakefield, The Whites, Rhonda Vincent and many others. Bob’s stunning solos and subtle backup are a joy to hear.

Jody Stecher is a music innovator of considerable stature who also is a repository of tradition. Jody received a 1999 Indy Award, has been a Grammy finalist several times for his work with Kate Brislin, and is an inspired song finder and arranger. He sings true bluegrass style and plays surprising mandolin with a big, round tone.

National Flatpicking Champion Peter McLaughlin is the band’s guitarist. He is equally powerful as a rhythm player and soloist. Peter played in Laurie Lewis’s band for several years, records for Dog Boy Records, and is the elder brother (and original mentor) of (Johnson Mountain Boy) David McLaughlin. Peter and Chris have a special musical telepathy that is one of the Perfect Strangers not-so-secret weapons.

Forrest Rose plays upright bass with a mighty thump and is Perfect Strangers’ erudite MC. Forrest’s from Iowa, Texas and Missouri, (you decide), and is a master "talker" which he does in a no-hurry midwestern conversational style. Forrest has played with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, toured with David Olney, and has played extensively with most of the great Missouri fiddlers as well as with Kenny Baker.