The Shadow Mountain Band specializes in mountain-style harmonies with lively acoustic backup. They feature Traditional Mountain Music, Hillbilly Gospels (think- ‘oh Brother, Where art Thou’) and Bluegrass, along with eclectic originals.
The band began several years ago as a hillbilly music jam session in the garden behind Pappy and Harriet’s Palace, an historic roadhouse in Pioneertown, CA. Crowds began to gather around to hear the mountain-style harmonies and old-time tunes. The management of Pappy and Harriet’s began coming out to listen and soon asked the jammers to come in and play inside for the restaurant crowd. Within a few months, they were joined by Banning, CA fiddler Billy Rhea Bell, and Pioneertown resident Johnny Ray Martin on the mountain-style autoharp (an instrument you seldom hear outside of Appalachia), and premier fiddler Bobby Furgo from Yucca Valley. The group was rounded out when Steve and Darlene’s son, Damian Lester, known around the farm as ‘Dooley’, joined the band on acoustic bass, and brilliant, soft-spoken Gar Robertson added his talents on mandolin, dobro, and vocals. Shadow Mountain also often features guests, including smokin’ mandolinist Mark Ross from 29 Palms, and other friends and musical famil members comin’ through town.
