The Groanbox Boys

Three outstanding acoustic musical performers ... playing their unique blend of Old Time Mountain Gypsy and World Folk Blues Music on accordion, acoustic guitar, banjo, harmonica and odd pieces of percussion, including their self-made "Freedom Boot". If you haven’t seen this remarkable, entertaining trio – it’s time you did! 

The Groanbox Boys are the NY/Canadian/London-based musical trio Cory Seznec, Michael Ward-Bergeman & Paul Clifford. Their foot-stompin' sound features unconventional arrangements weaved together by tight vocal harmonies sung with raw intensity. Cory plays fingerstyle and flatpicking guitar, clawhammer, plectrum, and three-finger banjo, and blues harmonica. Michael plays the accordion, hammering out a deep, full bass and accompaniment with his left hand, and authentic melodic lines with his right. Banging out the percussion with their feet using a "stompbox" and a set of ‘ghungroo’ (Indian ankle bells). Paul Clifford is an extraordinary percussionist, playing anything from ordinary household utensils to a variety of vegetable and wooden instrumentation – oh and don’t forget that big dog bone – a true eco musician! Their shows are marked by a rich, distinct sound and unending energy.

“Their curious mélange of country blues, New Orleans boogie, Appalachian reels and African-influenced instrumentals have a new acoustic texture. There are acoustic-guitar- picking folk groups, there are accordion-pounding Gypsy troupes, there are harmonica-blowing blues combos and gourd-banjo-flayling world-music troubadours; there are even, probably, musicians who carry six-foot-high percussion sticks around with them. But there is surely no musical partnership that brings all of the above together as bracingly as the Groanbox Boys.” 

Corentin "Cory" Seznec

Corentin is a Franco-American musician born in France and raised in Connecticut and Annapolis, Maryland on the family farm. As a teenager, he discovered Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy, and Doc Watson records among his parents' dusty collection in the attic of their house, and it was then that a passion for pre-war blues, jazz, string and jug band music was born.

Michael Ward-Bergeman

Michael is a passionate, sensitive and creative performer, songwriter and composer. Recent highlights have been performances with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and working with Golijov and Francis Ford Coppola on the soundtrack to his new movie, Youth Without Youth. In April 2007, Michael premiered his composition Three Roads at Carnegie Hall. He has recently been awarded the first commission ever given by the Terezín Chamber Music Foundation for the soprano Dawn Upshaw in 2008. Michael’s musical mix has seen him performing around the globe from the local pub to the Sydney Opera House!

Paul Clifford

Paulis a skilled west coast Canadian drummer and multi-instrumentalist with a gift for improvisation. He’s played in jazz, folk, blues, country, rock and latin bands and worked as a composer and actor, travelling widely (via Cuba and New Orleans to Banff) to keep his music fresh. This highly original percussionist is a real eco musician who plays log & hammer, strings of household keys, various gourds, tin cans with nuts and seeds, blocks of wood and other odd pieces of percussion from recycled everyday objects, as well as the trio's self-made "Freedom Boot" (a broom stick lined with 420 rattling bottle-tops ending in a foot-stomping boot). 

website: www.groanboxboys.com
Groanbox Boys' myspace