A native of Staten Island, New York Bob has been playing music since childhood. He is a multi-instrumentalist steeped in the American musical roots traditions often referred to as Americana. A long time member of the Risky Business Bluegrass Band, Bob often branches out to perform solo or in diverse, acoustic, musical settings following a restless creative urge.
He has been an awardee in all of the grant categories for the Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI). These grants are underwritten by both New York City and New York State. He has been awarded a Premier grant, several Encore grants, a Junefest performance, and an Original Works grants in 2004 to write and produce a CD of songs about Staten Island. The resulting CD Harbortown is available and has garnished excellent reviews. Several of those songs have become favorites with singers in the UK and Ireland. The group ‘Harbortown Revue’ was formed in direct response to the collaborative efforts that went into producing the CD. The shifting line up often includes Bob Conroy, Norm Pederson, Bill Doerge, Caroline Cutroneo, and Mara Levine.
In 2003 Bob was a finalist in the bluegrass songwriting category of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Competition at the Merlefest festival in North Carolina, finishing 3rd out of an international field of close to 900 entries and was invited to perform his song at the festival. He also ran a mentoring program at several of the Maryland Banjo Academy events run by The Banjo Newsletter based out of Annapolis, Maryland. In 2005 he was invited to Nashville as a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Bluegrass Leadership Class of 2005. This past September the Brooklyn Arts Council invited him to perform his song The Dust Came Down at a 9/11 Memorial and the Arts Council archived the song for posterity. All of Bob's CD's are currently in the collection of the Staten Island Museum and are available for research and display.
As a result of a successful engagement at the Everyman Folk Club in Liverpool, UK, Hughie Jones, a legendary member of the British folk group ‘The Spinners’ published Bob’s song, ‘The Daughter of Water Street’ and recorded it on his CD Liverpool Connexions.
Bob continues to perform, both here and abroad, and to write new material that explores the places he knows best. He released his 3rd solo CD, The Diver, at the beginning of 2008 and completed a project about immigration for which he was awarded a 2008 COAHSI Encore grant. In 2009 he received a COAHSI grant to write and perform songs about the cultural impact of oysters on NYC and first performed that song cycle at the Staten Island Museum. His latest project, The Oyster Aristocracy, was recorded as a result and was released at that show on 10/22/09.
Bob Wright: Bio
Bill Doerge
Bill Doerge Bio: Bill began playing music early, starting on the accordion at Wright studios on Staten Island. He listened to all types of music and got bit by several “bugs”. Jerry White on station WJRZ got him keenly interested in folk music. He taught himself guitar, first on a borrowed Les Paul, then bought a Harmony 12-string. Around the same time, he studied string bass in school (thanks, Miss Erickson) and got interested in classical and jazz music. Bill got a Farfisa organ from his parents and started playing in a Rolling Stones influenced band “Jax” in high school. At the same time, he played bass with folk artists, Janet Savage and Frank Manasia. He played in several bands after that, “Binding Force” and “Eliot & Donne and the Soft Machine”. In 1970 he was fortunate to study with Jazz bassist Jimmy Garrison. Bill stopped playing with groups, playing alone and with family, but kept listening to all music. Through a mutual friend, Joe Scro, Bill was introduced to Bob Wright and began to play back-up with him. Bill is a member of the International Society of Bassists and the Acoustic Musicians Guild. Besides playing with Bob Wright, he freelances and plays with several groups in central New Jersey. Bill plays 6 and 12-string guitar, upright and electric bass, keyboards and accordion and occasionally sings.