Swing '39

John Thornberry gained his unique musical insights through study at the School of Hard Knocks taught by counter culture musicians playing in 1960s in Louisville Kentucky. He started out, like many a budding rock musician, on guitar, but at age 13 switched to bass and has never looked back. John has worked with a number of hard rock bands and psychedelic rock ensembles in the Louisville area since 1967. Eventually he become interested in fusion and other types of jazz which led him to purchase an up right bass and explore acoustic styles of music. In 1993, he and Ben Andrews formally joined forces to establish Swing '39 and performing the music of D'jango Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli.

Jane Halliday has a B.M. in violin performance from the University of Louisville and a B.A. in english from Smith College. She has worked with ensembles throughout Kentucky including the Louisville Bach Society, Choral Arts Society, Louisville Orchestra, and the Lexington Philharmonic, and has a broad range of free-lance experience from studio work to musical theater. Ms Halliday has also performed on numerous occasions as a soloist with the Kling Chamber Orchestra, specializing in performances of baroque concerti. She has been a member of the Highland Chamber Players, a string quartet performing both traditional and non-traditional repetoire, since 1985, and since 1997, has performed with Swing 39.

Ben Andrews has played the guitar since the age of nine beginning a career in music that includes performing, song-writing, and production. As a developing instrumentalist, he worked with numerous rock, blues and original music bands in the Louisville, Kentucky area in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During this time Ben fell in love with two different french women and one Christmas received a Django Reinhardt record from his mother. That record was a real ear opener and, while the french women are long gone, the music of D'jango is still going strong. He moved to Boston MA to study at the Berklee College of Music in 1987 and ultimately received a B.A. in Film Scoring. Returning to Louisville in 1992 he has run a recording studio and played locally ever since.