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Keith Baumann was born and raised in New York City and fell in love with country music after he heard his first Flatt & Scruggs recording in 1971. Keith soon began to play the 5-string banjo and guitar, studying with the world renowned banjo player, Tony Trischka. He later set his sights on the mandolin and after playing in several N.Y. area bands , Keith moved out to San Francisco to be closer to the emerging acoustic music scene that was developing in the bay area.

During this time, he studied with mandolin guru Mike Marshall and also had the pleasure of trading jazz licks with the legendary Tiny Moore. Keith played mandolin with several bay area bluegrass bands including, Heartland which has among its alumni, Rob Ickes, Allison Brown, Tony Furtado and Jim Nunally.

In 1991 Keith moved to the Chicago suburbs and began to play in several midwest bands. After filling in on several tours with The Special Consensus, he was asked to join the band as their full-time mandolin player. Keith toured with the band for a year, performing at major festivals and concert halls across the country.

Keith now earns a living as a full-time musician and bandleader, performing regularly on guitar, mandolin, dobro, 5-string banjo, tenor banjo and bass. Over the years he has worked with many great artists such as Vassar Clements, Peter Rowan, Laurie Lewis, Patsy Montana and The Original Texas Playboys. He also teaches at The Old Town School Of Folk Music.

Chris Walz is an accomplished vocalist, guitar player and actor. He began playing guitar and singing as a teenager in upstate New York and graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in theatre. In 1988 Chris relocated to Chicago and began working both as a musician in several local bluegrass bands and as an actor performing in numerous Stage productions.

Chris’ exceptional talent was soon recognized when he was cast in the lead role of Woody Guthrie in the national tour of Woody Guthrie's American Song, a role that he would play successfully for a number of years. In the mid 90's he started working as a guitar teacher at the Old Town School of Folk Music and soon after was asked to join Chicago’s top bluegrass band, The Special Consensus as their lead singer and guitarist.

Chris has spent nearly four years touring the U.S., Canada, and Europe as a professional bluegrass musician. He has appeared on two of the band's projects which contained three of Chris' original songs. Since leaving The Special Consensus, Chris has continued to work as a bluegrass and blues musician, teacher, composer and lyricist.