Ironweed Bluegrass Band

Meet the Band: www.ironweedbluegrassband.com

Jake Clayton-Fiddle, Dobro, Mandolin,Guitar, Vocals This multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist, joins Ironweed from Mexico, Mo. In his young twenty-one years he already has an amazing amount of musical accomplishments that most musicians only dream of. He has shared the stage with many traditional and new country artists from Loretta Lynn to Rascal Flatts. Jake sleeps, eats and breathes the music. Well accomplished on fiddle, mandolin, dobro, guitar, banjo and bass, to name only a few, he respectfully chomps into every style of music and instrument he can get his hands on.
He is currently touring once a month with Tanya Tucker.

Jane Accurso-Lead Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin
A lot of backwoods passion flows through Jane Accurso’s veins with her deep, Missouri Ozark and Arkansas roots. Her dad’s people were old-time stringband musicians and on her mom’s side, Aunt Pearl was known to be the best Schottische dancer in all of St. Clair County. From traditional grass to newgrass, from traditional country to Cajun and old-time, Jane continues to bring fire to the Ironweed stage with lead vocals, guitar and occasional mandolin, when smiled at real pretty. She likes to perform barefoot when the weather permits, but she has several pairs of excessively colorful cowboy boots reserved for wintertime use

Dierik Leonhard-Banjo, Fiddle, Clawhammer Banjo, Vocals
Dierik says he was born in Germany, but his close friends suspect that he's really from the third moon of the Planet Banjo, located in Orion's belt buckle. He is fluent in all styles of banjo picking, so he can -- and often will -- sound like Earl Scruggs one minute and Tony Trishka the next. Most pickers would be tickled just to know all of the stuff he's forgotten or abandoned. Besides that, he is an excellent lead and harmony singer. His fiddlin' raises the roof. His old-time clawhammer banjo will surely make you whoop & holler. Dierik has taught "Bluegrass 101" for many years in the Columbia School system, and and has started many pickers down that high, lonesome bluegrass highway. Dierik has the biggest grin in bluegrass music.

Alan Loshbaugh-Bass Fiddle
Alan Loshbaugh is new to bluegrass but not to the upright bass. Originally from San Francisco, he settled in St. Louis for a number of years and now claims Columbia, Mo as home. Alan comes to Ironweed with an amazing background in jazz. He’s studied under St. Louis jazz giants, Bob Wagner and Tom Kennedy, has played in many bands from jazz to blues to rock and now, bluegrass with Ironweed. Alan embraces the traditional, devouring his Bill Monroe recordings with a frenzy while at the same time, hopes to throw a wide ranging skill set at a new-to-him kind of music and see what sticks!

Some fine words folks have said about us:

Al Berard-Cajun Grammy Nominated Fiddler
“The Ironweed Bluegrass Band.....wow!.....heard them at a New Years Eve Festival....and they had the place a bouncin'.....
Also, you gotta be doin something right if you get
invited to go play....Bluegrass music in a place
where people never even heard of Bluegrass....like
Qingdao, China....that is AWESOME!!!!
Check em out......Great Band!!!!”

Mitch Jayne of The Dillards -
“Jane Accurso is a woman whose voice was so striking and her feelings for a song so deep that she might have written every song they played that night. It became the lead instrument and then IRONWEED wove a clever band around it."...

BLUEGRASS UNLIMITED-CD Review
IRONWEED BLUEGASS BAND
GIRL TROUBLE/BOY TROUBLE -
“Ironweed, a mainstream bluegrass band, picks its instruments competently and selects its material creatively. There are a couple of originals here, some bluegrass standards, and interesting songs from such diverse sources as Emmylou Harris, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Rosie Flores. Most get satisfactory arrangements, except for an unhappy tendency toward more speed than timing on the up-tempo numbers. Jane Accurso's powerful lead soprano carries the vocals. While her style leans a bit too far toward the pop end of the spectrum for my taste, her performance on Hazel Dickens' "Scars From An Old Love" is a beautiful tour de force, taking an already magnificent song into some realm of loveliness that transcends categories. If Ironweed can match her voice to more material like this, they'll carve out a place of distinction for themselves.”(JR)

Sutu Forte, Julliard Graduate, Performance Artist, Director, Producer, Creator of “Moulin Musique” concert series. -

“FUN, FRESH, FRISKIE…Jane’s voice will steal your heart!”

Jason Ringenberg/Farmer Jason, of Jason and the Scorchers
Cowpunk pioneer, Singer, Farmer -
"Jane’s voice and songs capture the true heart of old time mountain music, and you can hear the wind blowing through the Ozarks in their music. Respectful of history without being too precious about it, these folks are the real deal.”

Carissa Varnell, Vox Magazine-Universi