Walnut Grove Band present - rock n' roll band
Mark "walnutt" Stewart - Guitar, Vocals & more
Emil Cardiel - Bass, Vocals & more
Wayne Zimmerman - Keys, Vocals & more
Ray Legnini- Drums, Percussion & more
A little about Walnut Grove...
(1999-Present)
Since 1999, Walnut Grove Band has been creating, performing and recording original roots rock music in the USA. Over the years WGB has changed dramatically. Mark Stewart, aka Walnutt, has been in the grove from the very start. Emil joined the band in 2006. Wayne and Ray wandered in to the grove in early 2008. The Walnut Grove continues to grow stronger and more creative with each regeneration.
You can visit the Walnut Grove Band music archive online at this website, by no means complete, the archive does offer eighty or so Walnutt and Walnut Grove Band tunes (studio & live c. 1999-2008) for preview.
Walnut Grove Band has performed hundreds of live shows at venues of all kinds, up and down the east coast of the USA. The recorded music of Walnut Grove Band can be found in CD and digital form all over the internet. There are many videos, images and photos out there on the net too.
Walnut Grove Band is an all original rock band founded in 1999 by singer/songwriter Mark Brian Stewart, a Virginia native who also produces as Walnutt.
The five commercially available CDs recordings from Walnut Grove can be found at CD Baby and Amazon online. The band's music is also available in digital form at place like iTunes, MSN, Rhapsody, Google and more.
What's next? Well, a new CD recording of course...and some shows most likely, some videos, good times, quest for diversity, question authority, create, make a diference, draw on experience, open up, take things lightly, stay on the path, breathe and kick into high gear.
See you soon.
Some Places We've Been
Ubiquitopia 4, Gore, VA
Sylvan Theatre/Washington Monument, DC
SoundQuilt Music Festival, Virginia
Stewart-Matheny Farm, Strasburg, VA
Endless Summer Gathering, Ft Washington, MD
Pickeral Street Block Party, White Plains, MD
Eclipse Jam, Fairfax, VA
Ed’s Taproom, West Virginia
Band Camp by Village Bicycle, Virginia
Hotel Charles, Maryland
The Fool festival, Virginia
Ned Devine's, Fairfax, VA
State Theater, Falls Church, Virginia
The Pour House, Raleigh, North Carolina
Seashore State Park/First Landing, Virginia Beach, VA
Club Boyds, Frederick, Maryland
Phil’s Grill, Viginia Beach
Cecilfest in Virginia/Maryland
Highlawn Pavillion, Harrisonburg, VA
Spaghetti Fest, Virginia
Wilderness Jam, Gore, Virginia
420 Jam Fest, Gore, Virginia
Champions Billiards, Maryland
Balls Bluff Tavern, Leesburg, Virginia
Kings Court Tavern, Leesburg, Virginia
Westmoreland Arts & Crafts Festival, Virginia
Bluemont Fair, Virginia
King of the Wings, Winchester, Virginia
Haymarket Days, Haymarket, Virginia
Steakmasters, Gainesvill, Virginia
Spring Fest / Cinco de Mayo, Virginia
May Jam, Virginia
Blue Ridge Fire & Rescue, Bluemont, VA
GK Hall, Berryville, VA
Barefoot Pelican, Sterling, Vigrinia
Santa Fe Café, Maryland
Louie’s, Silver Spring, Maryland
Basin Street, Sterling, VA
Alston’s Pub (The Pub), Harrisonburg, Virginia
The Little Grill, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Gathering of Guests & Ghosts, Virginia
Big Dogs Off-Road, Gore, Virginia
Gobbler’s Knob (Beth’s), Winchester Virginia
Brewbakers, Winchester, Virginia
Coalie Harry’s, Virginia
Sweet Caroline’s, Winchester, Virginia
The Vault, Baltimore, Maryland
The Velvet Lounge, Washington, DC
Shark Club, Centreville, VA
Firehouse Grill, Fairfax, VA
Ragtime Café, Arlington, VA
Fat Tuesday’s, Fairfax, VA
Shenanigans, Leesburg, VA
The Barn, Bluemont, Va
The Retreat, Bluemont, VA
Cole’s Point Marina, VA
DC 9, Washington D.C.
Strasburg Theater, Strasburg, VA
The Grove Garage, Chantilly, VA
Country Roads, Hedgesville, West VA
Zig’s, Alexandria, VA
Live at Best Checks, Sterling, VA
Lars from Mars TV show, Arlington, VA
Walnut Grove Block Party, South Riding, VA
ShortMan’s Fall-Down, Chantilly, VA
Common Threads Gathering, Gore, VA
Salvage Festival, Gore, Virginia
Cox’s Farm Fall Festival, Fairfax, VA
Bistro Bistro, Reston, VA
Festival of the Equinox, VA
Treehugger’s Ball Festival, West VA
Three Pieces & a Biscuit Festival, Chantilly, VA
Main Street, Fairfax, VA
McPool Party, Alexandria, VA
Roadtrippin’ with Bill Wright Radio Show, MD
Wes & Kimba’s, Maryland
Sunshine Daydream Music Campground, West VA
123 Pleasant Street, Morgantown, W VA
Morgantown Sound Radio, Morgantown, W VA
Cary Street Café, Richmond, VA
Freedom Festival, Gray Bear Lodge, Berkeley Springs, West VA
Summer Solstice Gathering, Peace in the Valley Festival, West VA
Fuzzy’s Fall-Down, King George, VA
Retreat Jam on the River, Shenandoah, VA
Clifford Park, Virginia
Mason District Fair, Fairfax, VA
Natural Chimney’s, Virginia
Mt Solon, Virginia
South Riding Inn, Virginia
Rhodeside Grill, Arlington, VA
Camp Barefoot, Gore, VA
Sign of the Whale, Falls Church, VA
The Royal, Baltimore, MD
East Coast Billiards, Woodbridge, VA
Stacatto, Adam's Morgan. Washington DC
DB Comm’s Halloween Bash, Harrisonburg, VA
Downtown Saloon (Payne's Biker Bar/Cafe), Leesburg, VA
Music Monthly, MD
Washington Post, D.C.
Winchester Star, Winchester, VA
FOX 99.3 FM, Winchester, VA
Washington City Paper, D.C.
XM Radio
JamBase.com
Google Video
CD Baby
iTunes
...and many more!
Walnut Grove Band past - a way of life
The Walnut Grove Band story dates back to 1999 when Mark Stewart and David Maldonado were reunited. The two had played together as teens and both enjoyed electric guitars. In the summer of 1999 the two began jamming more intensively. By fall of 1999, the Walnut Grove Band had formed. Folks of all ages would gravitate to the old Stewart garage located on Walnutgrove Lane in Virginia where Stewart had basically grown up. Len Jenkins and Steve Sugrue joined the band and the concert-style parties that followed became legendary. Hundreds of local DC region musicians would perform in the Stewart family's "Grove Garage" over the next several years at parties and events the band would host. Halloween 1999 was Walnut Grove's first actual show. The original lineup was a guitar based band with Sugrue on drums and the others switching up guitar, bass and vocals. The first release from Walnut Grove Band was a CD titled Woodeye, a CD that is no longer available.
As often happens with bands in their infancy, the Walnut Grove Band's line-up changed dramatically over the next few years. Assorta Nutz was produced by Mark (aka walnutt) and Brad Thoesen in 2002. The CD recording took place in a mountain cottage located above the Shenandoah River in Bluemont, Virginia. The CD took a couple of months to record. Thoesen performed all drums & percussion on the CD and co-engineered the disc as well. Stewart produced the artwork, photos and William Mitchell Studios put the CD package together.
The Walnut Groove would become Walnut Grove Band's first studio CD. The disc was produced in 2004 by Walnutt and newcomer Casey "Helgamite Jones" Firkin, a drummer that Stewart met while gigging in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Walnutt and Firkin rebuilt the Walnut Grove Band with help of John Stammat and took the band into the future with The Walnut Groove.
Joshua Papreck stumbled into the Walnut Grove Band in 2004. The bass wiz-kid's playing energized the Walnut Grove. Together the trio consisting of Mark Stewart (guitar/vocals), Casey Firkin (drums/vocals) and Joshua Papreck (bass/vocals) produced two CDs over the next couple of years; Black Walnut in 2005 and Good Would? in 2006.
Change is no stranger to the Walnut Grove. In 2007 the band hit the ground running with a new bassist by the name of Emil Cardiel. The band performed some pretty wonderful shows and some were recorded and also captured on video. The 2007 trio (walnutt, helgamite and emil) played their last show in July of 2007 at Stewart-Matheny Farm. In October, on Halloween, Casey and Mark performed a nutty, spontaneous, electric-acoustic set at The Gathering of Guests and Ghosts, also in Virginia.
In the fall of 2007, while on hiatus from WGB, Mark recorded a solo CD as Walnutt called "The Posie Expression". Casey retired from WGB and continues working on a project of his own called SleepFeeder. Emil began playing keyboards and guitar with some other regional projects.
Walnut Grove Band is no stranger to change. Created in 1999 by Mark Stewart, the Walnut Grove Band has become a vehicle for Stewart's songwriting and also for colaboration with other artists. The line-up has changed completely 8 times in 9 years! Currently, Stewart is building the 9th generation Walnut Grove Band.
Stewart also records solo as WalnuTT. The most recent work from the nut is a CD released in the fall of 2007 at Halloween called "The Posie Expression". Stewart has begun production of a new Walnutt & The Walnut Grove Band recording for release sometime in 2008.
Every year since 2003 (and sometimes even twice a year), Stewart voluntarily creates and produces a regional music festival called SoundQuilt Music Festival. Walnut Grove Band often performs at the SoundQuilt events.
Walnut Grove has gradually moved further and further west from the sprawling suburbia of Northern Virginia/DC to the rural heart of the Shenandoah Valley region in Virginia, just outside of Strasburg. The move has been a rough ride, but inspiring. Walnut music flows.
Walnutt and Walnut Grove Band have recordings for sale at Apple iTunes, Rhapsody, CD Baby, Amazon and more. Fan videos from live shows over the years are sometimes available at Google.com/video. Walnutt's solo project site features an archive of Walnutt and Walnut Grove Band music.
Over the years, many folks from Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland have spent some time in the Grove. Other folks not mentioned above, including Angie Head, Greg Deeds, Perry Glass, Stebbins Miller, Chuck Piscapo, Damein Pack, Pete DelVitto, Christina K. Campo, Deanne Good, Rebecca Matheny, Chris Brown, Michael Beale, Mike Bolles, Jerry Hammack, Dan Telvock, T-roy, Jason Heart and many more, have contributed to the Walnut Grove community.
Some things change, while others remain the same. One thing is certain, but which thing is that? "If you feel the need to exit your mind...go right ahead!"
wgb photo archive (present into past):
Walnut Grove Band Photo Archive