The Players

My love for music began the day Georgia Byrd sang "You Are My Sunshine" to
her baby boy. I probably didn't know what she was doing but I must have been
in awe of this celestial form of communication, because it has always been an
awe-inspiring influence in my life and a source of fulfilment and peace. A true
blessing and gift from God.

Around 1982 my Sutter's Gold Streak Band Family disbanded. There was a lot
of sad "Rain In The House." I was convinced there would be no more musical
blood bonds in my future. C-Boy Crawford and I had an equipment and vehicle
fire sale. He took off to beating those white Gretch drums. My song
writing partner Jimmy Papp took off to the west coast and I got a real job!

I might have managed to break the bonds of the insane life on the road but
composing music is a personal ever-haunting voice. Around 2005 I started
packing a micro cassette recorder everywhere to document a seemingly steady
influx of musical attacks to the brain. Being less than proficient on any
instrument, I banged out ideas on a keyboard but was always aware that I
needed a professional instrumentalist to bring my compositions to fruition.

Jimmy Papp came back from the west coast and we started working together
but he was already being affected by disease of his liver and our output was
limited. During this time we connected with producer, arranger, recording
engineer and multi-instrumentalist Dole Shaffer through a mutual friend Tom
Stroud in Newport, NC. Tom was the drummer in Papp's first band Toad Farm
and is the percussionist on the album. We all started to record this music in a
makeshift studio set up in Dole and Tom's residence.

My friend and song partner Jimmy Papp passed from this life 5/22/12. he had
a beautiful singing voice and played guitar from the heart! I regard the chance
meeting of Dole and myself and his invaluable contributions to this project
indeed a fortunate twist of fate.

So here lies Byrd writing and singing, Dole Shaffer engineering, producing,
arranging and performing most of the instrumentation, and Tom Stroud on the drums.

--George Byrd, 7/2012

Born into the well known musical family The Hatfields, Dole Shaffer has
been playing guitar since the age of 5. By the age of twelve, he learned
to play several other instruments. Since then, he's traveled the country
country performing in many places from smoke filled bars to larger arenas.

After twenty years on the road, and another fifteen years working in the
studio, he decided to return to study recording engineering. He graduated
at the top of his class, and was then hired by the school as the director
for the audio engineering department, where he worked for ten years.

Dole has shaped his talent into a skill of survival by becoming a
recording engineer, producer, composer, and multi-musician. He has
been involved with over 275 music projects and hundreds of tv and
radio commercials and soundtracks.

His honors include being awarded two Telly awards for movie soundtracks
and has also received many honors and certificates for his works. He's also
released several solo and group recordings. Currently he works as a freelance
engineer/producer and performs and composes on many other artists releases.
Dole also owns his own record label, Bugzy Pepper records.
Dole may be one of the most-heard unknown musicians.
Check out some of the links below to sample his body of work.


http://www.reverbnation.com/doleshaffer
Scram
The Press
Trees
Dole's Facebook Page
Bugzy Pepper Records
Dole-Music Co.
IndieCharts.com