Biography

Grifters & Shills writes and performs timeless music with deep ties to the past and a very assertive outlook on the present. They pay homage to the paths long taken, but continue forging the trail using their own voice and style.

A number of hybrid genres have emerged as enchanted listeners try to find a name for what they have seen and heard at a Grifters & Shills performance. Featuring tight vocal harmonies, guitar, banjo, percussion, harmonica, mandolin, and bass, they've been called everything from bluegrass to blues, from Americana to outlaw.

But the best one by far, is roots music. Because at the heart of it all is a deep appreciation for where all of this music comes from. And, by extension, where all of us have come from.

They have released two albums under the name Westbound—Now & Then (2012) and Blackjack Road (2010). They are currently touring throughout the U.S. and writing for their third album, anticipated in 2013. Music from these albums is playing on left-end-of-the-dial radio stations all across the country.

Their instrumentation and vocals have also been featured on albums from other artists, including Texas favorites Myrna Sanders (Big Head Diva; 2012) and Zach Tate (End of Time; 2012). The band has also appeared in Musician’s Friend advertisements in Guitar World, Mix, Electronic Musician and Modern Drummer magazines.

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Grifter [grif - ter]: A practitioner of confidence tricks; a person who operates a side show at a circus, fair, especially pertaining to slight of hand tricks


Shill [shil]: one who acts as a decoy (as for a pitchman or gambler); one who poses as a customer in order to entice others to participate, as at a gambling house, auction, or confidence game