How did this project come about?

I'd always wanted to do something like this - soul, r&b, funk and the like...with horns - and play with a group of musicians who pushed me to be better. In 2008 I decided it was time to make a run for it. I'd heard from a friend that Mike Siggins was a talented bass player, so I approached him with my idea and asked him if he would like to try a few songs and see if it would work. Then I contacted another friend and asked him if he knew any talented musicians who might be interested. He came back a few hours later with John Wise's name. The three of us chose a few songs and got together to see what it might sound like.

Things started to click immediately and we found these natural, organic harmonies. We then began to audition other musicians.

Finding Ryan was funny. He had this enthusiasm, and I could tell that he wanted everything to be right. At the time, he was the youngest member of the group and I was concerned that he might be an awkward fit. We'd been auditioning guitar players for weeks and needed to get away from it for a little bit, so we put him on the back burner while we began looking for our horn members. Ryan was going on vacation, so it was a good time to shift gears. I think nearly three weeks went by and he calls me from Hawaii while he's on vacation. He wanted to let me know that he was still interested - maybe make certain that I hadn't forgotten about him. I thought, "Wow! He's calling me FROM HAWAII while on VACATION." I knew then that he was our guy. While he didn't grow up with some of this music, he embraces the era. Then he gets the WAH pedal going and it's 'Ryan and the Way-Back Machine'.

It took some time to gather the horn players. Andy was the first to come on-board. We were trying to get Tom to say "yes", and he was playing it cool. Ryan had worked with Fort (Michael Fortunato) in Cootie Brown, so he recommended him for the other sax position. Fort plays like he lives...you can't not notice him when he enters the room, and you can't ignore him when he's playing.

Meanwhile, both Ryan and Fort were talking to Jordan to see if he wanted to be our drummer. Jordan was busy with a few other groups, but thought he'd audition for us and see how everyone fit. Jordan found the groove and then things really began to click.

With the addition of Chris Gamble on trombone we feel we have the best horn section in the area.

All this time John is making most of the charts and taking on the role of musical director. This is a workhorse role and one I could not do without. I am so grateful for his hard work and enthusiasm.

I appreciate what each member brings to this group, and when we're all 'in the pocket', and the groove is working, I just bubble over with sheer joy. These lads have mad skills.

When did you begin making music?

Well, I always had a love for music. I sang in every choir I could find throughout school. I took piano lessons. I tried the clarinet for about two months. What I really wanted to play was saxaphone, but those in charge of distributing the instruments told me that "girls don't play saxaphones." In 1978 I went on a six week tour of Europe with a choir and band of about 320 or so high school and college students. It was amazing.

I'd always wanted to play in a band, so in 1987 I formed a CSN/James Taylor/Beatles harmony-heavy acoustic trio called 'Bitterblue'. We had a good run in and around the State College, Lewistown, and Huntingdon areas for several years. It was with Bitterblue when I picked up all of the aux. percussion, played a few songs on the electric bass, and a few songs on the acoustic guitar.

Then a friend asked me if I might be interested in joining a Country music group, so I joined up with the group then known as Spectrum. As Garth Brooks became popular, Country became more like Pop, music videos and line dancing were all the rage, we changed our name to Spectrum and The Electric Rodeo. As we shaped our sound even more and added more Southern Rock to the mix, and went from nearly all cover tunes to nearly all of our own original music, we changed our name one more time to SouthWEST. As SouthWEST we toured all over the place opening for acts such as Brad Paisley, Montgomery Gentry, Billy Montana, The Bellamy Brothers, Johnny Paycheck, Dan Seals...there were so many. We played a showcase in Cleveland in conjunction with The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and we recorded our own CD. I did a wee bit of songwriting at the time, and a few of our songs got some radio-play. Hearing our songs on the radio was pretty surreal.

SouthWEST was one of the first bands to be featured on the early MP3 website. "Baby Blue" spent over a year in the top-5 songs on the Rockabilly chart, and we were featured in two books - Complete Idiot's Guide to MP3: Music on the Internet by Rod Underhill and Nat Gertler (Paperback - Jan 15, 2000) still found at Amazon.com, and I Want My MP3!: How to Download, Rip, & Play Digital Music by Bill Mann (Paperback - Oct 13, 1999).

Several SouthWEST original songs are featured in the Anthracite Films' movie Daybreak by Michael James Kacey, and SouthWEST guitarist/keyboardist Michael Yeaney and I perform the closing credits song of the movie. 

Around 2001 we decided to turn our energies toward our families and SouthWEST just stopped booking dates. I formed a duet act with another SouthWEST member, Mark Johnson, and we still perform a few times a year - Mark's original songs, old standards, a little jazzy, folky acoustic act.

And then came The Hounds of Soul - HOS.

What is the largest audience for which you've played?

I've played at the Jordan Center at Penn State, and at Seven Springs Resort with SouthWEST - those were pretty large audiences, but we didn't get a head count. I'd have to say that the largest known audience was at The Raystown Regatta when SouthWEST opened for Brad Paisley - about 28,000 people, I'm told.

Any final thoughts?

Yes, two. Music and love are the strongest forces in the universe. And come see The Hounds of Soul.