BEN BEUTTNER

Ben “Big B” Buettner
Ben Buettner began his musical career in a garage in Livermore, CA. After graduating from air guitar to real guitar, he began his performing life in a bluegrass/jazz band. Since then, he has performed and recorded on a number of instruments including guitar, banjo, and string bass. Recently, he realized that the world was hungry for someone who would holler old country tunes over a swing band and Big B and his Snakeoil Saviors was born.

DAVID PHILLIPS

David is a modern innovator on the pedal steel guitar, bringing the expressive and difficult instrument into many other styles of music other than the weepy country & western or honky tonk music it is usually associated with. A Georgia native who started his music career as a lead guitarist, David Phillips eventually relocated to the Bay Area, where he has collaborated with such diverse bandleaders as Frank Black, Tom Waits, Charlie Hunter, and John Wesley Harding. Phillips is also a member of Jack West and Curvature, an acoustic jazz ensemble led by a guitarist whose instrument features not six but eight strings.
Pulling extra strings becoming desirable through this association or perhaps because of the aforementioned Hunter, who picks both a seven- and an eight-string model axe, Phillips became known for utilizing a pedal steel with a total of 14 strings. He is thus able to reach down to a low E as well as hitting notes as high as a violinist at 4:20 p.m. Phillips gets into series of sustained chords that hang like shrouds of rainbow, inviting comparisons to Houston's Susan Alcorn, as well as the kind of outrageous solo screeching that hasn't been heard since Rusty Young began mellowing out in Nashville. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide

MARGUERITE OSTRO

Margo's bio inofmration will go here.

Rob Reich

Reich composes and performs on many instruments, in many styles. In addition to playing klezmer with The Red Hot Chachkas and Kugelplex, he also plays gypsy jazz with Gaucho, southern soul with Lord Loves A Working Man, and composes for the theater troupe Rococo Risque.

MARK PETRELLA

Petrella brings over 25 years of experience in many varied musical stylings to the Snakeoill Saviors. This new Bay Area resident refers to himself as a working class musician, and until recently Mark’s Bass playing was a regular feature in L.A.’s top country/swing clubs. He has a long history of varied and questionable endeavors, as well as exclusive California engagements, both live and recorded. Petrella brings his own dark, deep distinctive richness to our lineup.

BRIAN CAMPBELL

Brian began playing professionally soon after college when he became a member of the Black Diamond Jazz Band. Since then, his professional experience has included playing jazz, blues, Dixieland, western swing, gypsy jazz, classical and musical theater styles with many bands both as a substitute and permanent member. He is currently a member of the San Francisco Starlight Orchestra, the San Francisco Feetwarmers, and several other groups, and he also heads his own band, Campbell’s Jazz Soup, which specializes in jazz from the late twenties through the early forties. Brian is also a competent singer and scatter.

GARRY WILLIAMS

Garry, a native Texan from Dallas, loves drums. He has always liked to bang on things, but actually started playing drums at age 12. As the son of early rockabilly artist Lew Williams, Garry has a strong appreciation for a variety of old and new musical styles. While at Baylor University on a scholarship for classical percussion, Garry played percussion part-time for the Waco Symphony Orchestra. He later transferred to the University of North Texas for jazz studies. Today, Garry keeps his chops up by playing and recording with local talent in the Bay Area.