Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band is a Southern California based group featuring Devitt Feeley, Lydia Veilleux, and Craig Ferguson who got their start in the bluegrass music field by winning first place in the 2009 Topanga Banjo and Fiddle "Band Contest. Their first recording, “Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band” released in November of 2010, was recorded in a 1920’s cabin in the mountain community of Big Bear, CA, and was mastered by legendary bluegrass engineer Billy Wolf in Arlington, VA. The bluegrass arrangement of Neil Young’s “Comes A Time” as well as the fresh arrangement of “Girl I Left Behind Me” have been receiving regular airplay on bluegrassmix.com. Although recently formed in 2009, Rocky Neck Bluegrass Bands’s path to the bluegrass world began years ago. All members attended Berklee College of Music and have studied with musicians like John McGann, Matt Glaser, Roland White, and Mike Witcher. Lydia Veilleux has toured nationally with the musical “The 3 Redneck Tenors” and has played at CMA Fanfest and Stagecoach Music Festival. In addition, both Devitt Feeley and Craig Ferguson worked the southwest bluegrass circuit with Cliff Wagner & the Old #7. As part of the Old #7, they played the Colorado River, Parker, Logandale and Yuma bluegrass festival and appeared on Fox TV's "Next Great American Band" and FX's "Justified". In RNBB’s debut, “We wanted to make a bluegrass recording that had the feeling of a living room jam as opposed to the slick Nashville sound. Recording in Devitt’s cabin in Big Bear couldn’t have been a better situation.” says Craig who engineered the recording. The blend of fresh bluegrass arrangements, original tunes, traditional music on this album will be attractive to fans of not only bluegrass but also blues, country, and folk-oriented listeners. Devitt Feeley added, “By arranging songs that are not part of the standard bluegrass repertoire like Neil Young’s Comes A Time, we hope to reach out to people who might not know that they’re bluegrass fans.” According to Lydia, “We searched our common repertoire for traditional tunes that still feel relevant today and tried to build fresh arrangements on these timeless songs. By juxtaposing old traditional songs like "Shady Grove" with bluegrass arrangements of more modern songs we hoped to respect traditional bluegrass, while extending a hand to people who aren’t that familiar with bluegrass music.” In addition to Devitt Feeley on Mandolin, Craig Ferguson on guitar and Lydia Veilleux on Fiddle, the live ensemble often includes Brian Netzley or Andrew Paddock on bass, and special guests on banjo including Matt Bruer. Live appearances are important to the band as they work hard to entertain crowds and put on a great show. RNBB’s performance schedule for 2011 is filling up fast.

Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band Fact Sheet -Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band's debut EP was recorded at an elevation of approx. 6,700 feet.

-Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band's debut EP was mastered by legendary bluegrass engineer Billy Wolf.

-Lydia's first professional job was playing in the band for the national tour of the musical "The 3 Redneck Tenors".

-RNBB won first place in the 2009 Topanga Banjo and Fiddle ʻBandʼ Contest -Devitt Feeley was born in Evanston, Illinois.

-Craig Ferguson was a student of National Flatpicking Champion John McGann. -Lydia was disqualified from numerous fiddle contests in New England as

a child for "using trick and fancy techniques".

-Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band's debut EP was recorded in a 1920's cabin in the -Southern California mountain community of Big Bear.

-Devitt Feeley composed music for two nationwide TV commercials for ʻCarlʼs Jr.ʼ and ʻHardeesʼ. -Lydia Veilleux was born in Maine

-Craig Ferguson has done session guitar work for CBS, Discovery Channel, Lifetime Movie Network.

-On breaks between recording Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band's debut EP the band often passed out nuts to the waiting squirrels on the porch

-Devitt Feeley was a bass principle at Berklee College of Music -Lydia is married to film composer Ryan Leach.

-Craig Ferguson was born in Portland, OR.

-Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band's debut EP was recorded while standing in a circle in the living room of the cabin.

-Devitt Feeley released his first single on iTunes “Dance, Dance, Dance” in 2009. -Lydia Veilleux was a performance major at Berklee College of Music

-Lydia Veilleux has performed at Stagecoach Fesstival and CMA FanFest. -Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band's debut EP does not use AutoTune.

- In 2010 Craig Ferguson and Devitt Feeley were featured in the “prison bluegrass band” on the 2nd episode of the hit FX show “Justified”.

-In 2003, Lydia played in a string section for Michael Brecker and Charlie Hayden at Carnegie Hall.