Bio

Grace Clark, from Livermore, CA, currently sings, plays guitar & 5-string banjo, and composes. She formerly co-founded and led the Brushy Peak Bluegrass Band and the Wild Rye Bluegrass Band. She recorded four albums with Brushy Peak. Grace is classically trained in piano and voice. She was the first chair solo baritone horn player in the Purdue University Symphony Band; and accompanist (piano) & student director of her high school choir. She sang for many years in classical and Sweet Adelines (Women's Barbershop) choruses.  Grace's Music Publishing Company is Duck Run Music  (Named after Duck Run, Ohio, the boyhood home of Leonard Slye, better known as Roy Rogers).

Affiliations: ASCAP, International Western Music Association (IWMA), Western Swing Society (Sacramento), Northwest Western Swing Music Society (Seattle), Santa Clara Valley Fiddle Association, California Bluegrass Association, Northern CA Bluegrass Society.

 Dr. Clark also works via her engineering consulting business, Grace Clark Signal Sciences:

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-clark-b9557139/

 

Grace is currently playing Western Swing and Jazz music with Grace Clark & Swingitude:

• Lisa Burns, from Mountain View, CA, plays bass fiddle and sings. Lisa is the 5-time Northern California Bluegrass Society Bass Player of the Year. She plays with Sidesaddle and Co., the Tiki Tones, and the Goat Hill Girls, among other bands. She has published multiple music albums with Sidesaddle & Co. and other ensembles. As a teacher, she is in high demand - she teaches bass fiddle at multiple music camps and gives private lessons.  

http://www.lisaonbass.com

 

 

Dave Rietz, from Sacramento, CA, sings and plays fiddle & mandolin. Dave is a member of the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame, and the Northwest Western Swing Music Society Hall of Fame. He plays with the Riverbend Folk Band (Sacramento, CA) and Rhythm Times (Sacramento, CA).  He is a professional musician, piano tuner and violin teacher. He plays theatre pipe organ, and he has published two music albums with the Riverbend Folk Band.  

http://www.daverietzmusic.com

 

 

 

 

 • James "Jimmy" Spero, from Sacramento, CA, is a renowned professional guitarist, and a member of the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame.  He plays all kinds of music, including western swing, swing, pop, country, jazz, funk, blues, rock, classical and ethnic. He performs solo and with multiple ensembles, including the Rhythm Times jazz band in Sacramento. 

https://guitarjim2000.wixsite.com/jimmy 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott Clark, from Livermore, CA (Grace's son), plays drums in Swingitude. He also performs in several jazz, hip hop and bebop ensembles, playing drums, lead guitar, and bass guitar.  Scott is an experienced studio recording musician.

 

Grace Clark & Swingitude Selected Performances:  

• 2019 Northwest Western Swing Music Society Hall of Fame Convention, Enumclaw, Washington.

• Masonic Home of Union City Concert Series, Union City, CA.

• Featured Band, Western Swing Society Dance, December 2018.

• 2018 Northwest Western Swing Society Hall of Fame Convention, Enumclaw, Washington.

• Featured Band at the 2018 Western Swing Society Dinner Dance, Sacramento, CA.

• Featured guest band at the August 2017 Western Swing Society Dance, Sacramento  

• Straw Hat Pizza Concert(s), ongoing,, Rancho Cordova, CA.

• Special guest performances at the Western Swing   Society Hall of Fame Convention, Sacramento (2016 and 2017)  

• Grace and Dave played with the Tony Arana Band at The Northwest Western Swing Music Society Festival, 2017, Enumclaw, WA.

• Two opening shows for Carolyn Martin (Member, Western Swing Hall of Fame, Association of Western Artists Western Swing Female Vocalist of the Year, etc.)  

• Opening show for Juni Fisher (Western Music Association Female Performer of the Year, Association of Western Artists Female Vocalist of the Year, etc.)  

• Invited performances at the 2013, 2014, 2015 2017, and 2018 International Western Music Association (IWMA) Annual Convention, Albuquerque, NM  

• The Monterey Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival, Monterey, CA, multiple performances  

• The Salinas Rodeo "Cowboys and Cabernet" show, Salinas, CA, multiple performances  

• The Northern California Bluegrass Society Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival, Tres Pinos, CA  

• A one-hour live radio show on KKUP 91.5, Santa Clara, CA  

• A special guest performance for the Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association, Cupertino, CA

 

 

 

Grace Clark (Photo by Emily Mazzei www.EmilyMazzeiPhotography.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa Burns

Dave Rietz

Jimmy Spero

Scott Clark