Big Road Blues

An acoustic blues band that combines musical ideas from the recordings of various blues greats--using guitars (slide, 6 and 12-string), mandolin, harmonica and fiddle to accompany vibrant solo and call & response vocals.

Ricky Eisenberg—lead vocals, guitar, slide metal-bodied resonator guitar.
Rickys rich bass voice and intricate finger-picking have been featured with the NYC Labor Chorus, where he was a member of the bass section and also performed as a soloist. He has played pre-war acoustic blues for over five decades, and has worked and studied with Woody Mann. In addition to his musical passion, he is a creative cabinetmaker.

Alan Podber—harmony vocals, guitar, slide wood-bodied resonator guitar, harmonica, bouzouki, fiddle, 12-string guitar.
Alan is a blues/old-time-country guitar player and mandolinist, a founding member of both the Delaware Water Gap and Wretched Refuse string bands, and a former host of several music programs, including A Taste of the Blues, on WBAI-FM (Pacifica radio in NY). Most recently, he has partnered with Ralph Litwin in The Fabulous Furry Harmonica Brothers, and accompanies labor singers George Mann and Julius Margolin (Young and Younger). He holds an M.A. in Music (concentration in ethnomusicology) from Hunter College in NYC, and presently teaches Music Appreciation at Hagerstown Community College in Maryland. He is also a former member of the New York City Labor Chorus, where he met Ricky. He belongs to Local 351 of the AFM, and DC 37 of AFSCME. He is a licensed social worker.

Myriam Valle—lead and harmony vocals, mandolin, guitar, spoons, tambourine.
Myriam is a guitar and mandolin-playing vocalist who has appeared on Broadway and in film, and has worked as a recording artist in popular music and commercials. Myriam
was also a founding member of the Delaware Water Gap String Band, along with Alan (and Henry Sapoznik).

Their CD, "Crossroots," also features harmonica players Delta Dave Johnson and Ken Ficara

The Fabulous Furry Harmonica Brothers

Ralph Litwin--vocals, banjo, guitar, harmonica.

Al Podber--vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, slide guitar, bouzouki.

Ralph (Mendham, NJ) and Al (Brooklyn, NY, and Peru, VT)) have performed as a duo and in larger groups since 1985, playing "a wild mix of ragtime, jugband, swing, blues, old-timey country, rock n roll oldies, and originals" (Don Kissil, former editor-in-chief of "Pickin'" magazine). They have played at The New Jersey Folk Festival, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Lincoln Center Crafts Fair, Brooklyn's Dumbo Arts Festival, The Minstrel Coffeehouse, as well as numerous other coffeehouses, concerts, private parties, fairs, and events. They lightheartedly refer to themselves as The Furry Harmonica Brothers because they sport beards and sometimes play harmonica duets while accompanying themselves on stringed instruments. The Furry Harmonica Brothers have released a CD, which includes 7 tracks from their live appearance on WFMU with radio host Irene Trudell. Ralph Litwin took first place in the NJ Old Style Banjo Championship in 83 & 86 (last year of the contest). At the 1996 Uncle Dave Macon Days in Murfreesboro, TN, he was a National Old Time Banjo finalist, took 2nd place in Harmonica and 1st place in Uncle Dave Macon Freewheelin' Style. Litwin is also producer and host of "...Horses Sing None of It!", a non-commercial half-hour cable television series, which has won three 1st Place Awards from The Hometown Video Festival. Al Podber's profile is listed above under the Big Road Blues band. His webpage is linked below. Also check out Ralph's site for great music AND expert cabinet-making/carpentry: www.ralphlitwin.com