Music & More

The Wood Valley Pickers got their start when Patricia Garber Gleue and her junior high-school friend Shirley Lesch Wittebort met at a class reunion and reminisced about their "most awful" first attempt at recording their own folk music when they were 14 years old. The two friends, who had maintained their interest and involvement in music over the years, decided to play together again.

With Patricia singing and playing mandolin and Shirley picking up the banjo, they added guitarist/vocalist Russ Ostermann, vocalist and fiddle player Melanie Dicks-Pritchard, and
Dan 'The Bass Man' McNeff.

The results of this collaboration are decidedly fun, and the group delights audiences with its energy and enthusiasm wherever they appear. While staying true to bluegrass style, the Wood Valley Pickers show how folk, country, blues, and even rock and roll can add to the fun of a
traditional bluegrass set.

In June 2014, they were honored as "Performer of the Year" at Wheatstock X, an annual Americana festival in the Heartland of the USA.