Old
School Freight Train
Click
here to visit the band's website
In
August 2000, four talented musicians, who had met while in college
in VA and NC, assembled in Richmond, VA to blend their diverse musical
influences and common love for acoustic music into a new band. They
all had picked in several bands before, 
and
were determined to make this one different; this band,
Old School Freight Train, would be tight; and spice bluegrass
with Dawg music, Latin rhythms, and originals. They began practicing
in earnest, woodshedding to reach a skill level they judged worthy
of public presentation. They played one gig in October 2000, at
the Williamsburg Occasion for the Arts, but did not start a regular
performance routine until January 2001, after six months of practice.
In
June '01, OSFT traveled to the famous Telluride, CO bluegrass festival
where they finished second out of twelve competing bands.
In
October of 2001, Anne Marie Simpson,
who had occasionally performed with the band, joined as fiddler.
OSFT's instrumental skill and repertoire created quite a buzz in
the Richmond bluegrass scene. Fieldcrest Music chose OSFT to open
for the Lynn Morris Band's concert at The Cultural Arts Center at
Glen Allen, VA on Feb. 8, 2002. Their first CD, recorded at Doobie
Shea studios is scheduled for a Feb. 1, 2002 release on Courthouse
Records.
Mandolinist,
Pete Frostic, a native of Oak Park,
IL, started playing guitar at 12 and switched to mandolin at 17.
Early influences were David Grisman, Jerry Garcia, and various blues
artists. At 18, Pete went to William and Mary where he met many
good musicians. One was Tidewater acoustic mainstay, Bill Gurley.
Another was Ben Krakauer, Old School Freight Train's banjo player.
Ben and Pete started a band called Tidewater. A third was Jesse
Harper, Old School's guitarist/percussionist, who was also attending
W & M and picking locally. Pete and Jesse formed a band called Hoo
Brown. In the summer of 2000, Pete went to Colorado to work, hike,
and play music. There he finished third in the mandolin competition
held at the Rockygrass Festival in Telluride. In 2001, Pete graduated
from W & M with a bachelor's degree in Economics and moved to Richmond.
Guitarist,
Jesse Harper was born in Montgomery,
AL, but relocated to Orange County, VA at an early age. His mom,
who played folk music, introduced Jesse to guitar, but he did not
become serious about music until he was 18.
After
High School, Jesse, studied classical guitar at VCU for three years.
He then attended William and Mary for two years, graduating in 2000
with a BA in pre-med. At William and Mary, Jesse met both Pete Frostic
and Ben Krakauer.
While
in Boone, NC, teaching at a summer camp, Jesse turned from his classical
direction to bluegrass. There he picked with Darrell in jams. Jesse,
now resides in Richmond, teaches guitar and plays guitar/bass jazz
duo gigs with Darrell.
Ben
Krakauer,
from Williamsburg, VA started on the banjo at 15. He was first inspired
by the music of Doc Watson and Pete Seeger, he heard around the
house growing up. Soon Ben was making weekly trips to a Newport
News music store for lessons from multi-instrumentalist Bill Gurley
who turned him on to bluegrass. While in HS, Ben, Pete Frostic,
Evan Morse, and Mark Krakauer, Ben's brother, played in a bluegrass
band named Tidewater. Ben eventually went to UVA, where he found
lots of casual picking. Living in central Virginia, Ben gained enthusiasm
for the hard-driving banjo styles of Terry Baucom and Sammy Shelor,
as well as the jazz stylings of trumpeter, John D'Earth. In addition
to playing the banjo, Ben is also a serious bluegrass guitar player,
but in deference to the needs of Old School Freight Train, guitar
has taken a back seat to the banjo. Now in his third year at UVA,
Ben is majoring in music, with a focus in jazz. With Old School
Freight Train, Ben tends to pick straight on bluegrass tunes, while
taking more jazz influenced breaks on the Latin, jazz and progressive
numbers.
Bassist,
Darrell Muller is from Hamilton Square,
NJ. His Mom, Judy, an alto sax and guitar player, turned him on
to music. Darrell took up alto sax at age 8 and sang in church and
school choirs from age 5 through 15.
In
HS, he played tenor sax and tuba in the marching band, concert band,
and electric bass in the jazz band. At graduation, he won a music
scholarship and the John Phillip Souza Award. In addition to school-sponsored
music, Darrell and a friend, Tim Marsh, influenced by Simon & Garfunkle,
the Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills & Nash, etc., performed in an
acoustic guitar duet.
At
21, Darrell put his guitar on the shelf in favor of his electric
and upright basses. He attended Appalachian State University in
Boone, NC, a hotbed of bluegrass and acoustic pickers, where he
picked with Jesse Harper, in Boone working at a summer camp. After
obtaining a degree in Sociology, Darrell moved to Ashland, VA. In
addition to his Old School Freight Train duties, he currently teaches
electric bass, plays in jazz duo and trio gigs, and plays in a dance
band called The Melody Makers.
Anne
Marie Simpson,
fiddler, from Fairfax, VA, began classical violin and fiddle lessons
using the Suzuki Method at age three. She's a graduate of the National
Symphony Youth Fellowship Program with scholarship studies of classical
violin. Scholarships enabled her to attend the Kennedy Center Music
Institute (summer of '95), the Governor's School for the Performing
Arts (summer of '96), and the Interlochen Fine Arts Academy (summer
of '97). Anne Marie graduated from UVA with a BA in double majors,
music and biology. At UVA, she studied music with Janet Orenstien
and John D'Earth, and recorded with John Dearth, John McCutchen,
and for commercial and movie sound tracks.
She
met Ben Krakauer, Old School Freight Train banjoist, in the Charlottesville
music scene while in a band named Walker's Run.
Some
of Anne Marie's many musical highlights and awards include winning
2nd in fiddle competition at Galax in 2000, playing with the Charlottesville
Symphony, and Encore Quartet, Concertmistress for the Virginia All
State Orchestra and Winner of WGMS Young Artists in the Community.
Currently,
Anne Marie resides in Orange, VA where she teaches Chemistry and
directs the string music program at Woodberry Forest school.
