The Squeezers

Defying easy categorization, The Squeezers have performed at  numerous Washington, DC area venues since 2013, with music ranging from English, Irish and French trad to jazz standards to tunes from the Basque and klezmer traditions, all played on English and Anglo concertinas and melodeon.

We are regularly featured at  the Washington Folk Festival, the Folklore Society of Greater Washington Midwinter Festival and the Takoma Park Folk Festival, and have brought our eclectic mix of music to coffeehouses around the region.
Gus Voorhees:
Gus Voorhees is a diatonic accordionist, fiddler and hurdy gurdy player. He plays English and French Bal Folk traditional music, and has performed in the UK, Canada and the United States as a member of Maple Morris and Morris Offspring. He has a degree in Music and Anthropology from Beloit College and has studied with Chris Wood and the English Acoustic Collective.

Gus plays a 2-row D/G Castagnari melodeon.

Randy Stein: 
Randy Stein is a classically trained musician who studied the English Concertina with the famed Matusewitch Brothers, Boris and Sergei. A former circus acrobat and founding member of the Big Apple Circus, Randy performed solo and with orchestras and groups across the USA and Canada in festivals and theaters including Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

He performed on stage in the Broadway musical Carmelina, and the Off Broadway show Modigliani. Randy recorded with various artists including John Lennon and Yoko Ono on their album Double Fantasy. Randy recently performed with the jazz group The Rodger French Trio. In addition to performing an extensive solo repertoire of Classic American and European Standards, Randy is currently performing and recording with the Jewish Folk Band, Ein Lanu Z'man.

Randy plays a 56 key 4 octave extended treble Aeola English concertina, circa 1937.

Jim Besser:   
A retired journalist, Jim has been playing in contra dance bands for 35 years, and has been the musician for three English Morris dance groups.   He is a founding member of the English rock ceilidh band Frog Hammer and performs regularly for Civil War reenactment dances. 

Jim plays  a Jeffries G/D Anglo concertina, circa 1895, a Lachenal C/G, circa 1915, and a Morse ESB baritone, circa 2016.