The Coyote Ridge Wranglers

About The Coyote Ridge Wranglers

If you don't recognize this Yakima-based band, don't worry; they're just now beginning to get into people's "contacts." Although this is a new band you might just know some of these pickers if you follow Northwest Bluegrass.

Everything about Jeff Farmer just oozes bluegrass. He's the first generation son of Missouri Ozark transplants to the Yakima Valley. He's got a bluegrass pedigree and if it's got strings on it, he's probably played it if not indeed mastered it. Jeff has (and still does) played with the Snipes Mountain Boys out of Zillah...one of whom is his father, Coy. They are well known around the Northwest festival circuit. This is one incredible banjo player.

Jerry Comiskey was one of the founding members of a Yakima based band called Catch & Release and is the bands affable bluegrass ambassador and bass player. Jerry grounds the band with a strong and steady bass line and is rangy enough vocally to sing tenor, bass and even does some lead vocal work for the band. Jerry spent his childhood in California but Yakima has been home to him since high school.

David Eichwald, guitar, is also a veteran of Catch & Release and provides the band with baritone and lead vocals. This guy can belt out a tune, too. David has played a variety of instruments and styles over the years but has found his bluegrass groove, admitting that he's listened to very little else in the past few years. David, who grew up in Yakima and now lives in Selah, is always a crowd favorite with his vocal delivery and solid guitar playing.

John Young, American by birth, Southern by the grace of God, still totes around a coastal Alabama accent in spite of living in the high desert of Washington for over a decade. He plays mandolin for the band, does a fair amount of lead vocals and carries out the band's emcee duties with a "front porch kinda ease." He cut his bluegrass teeth in Alabama, refined his vocal and guitar technique for a decade in Tennessee and learned to play the mandolin in the Yakima Valley.

One could liken these boys to a good gumbo....start with a rich acoustic roux, add some spicy hot licks, let those powerful vocals simmer and mellow out the flavor, and there it is: a tasty full-bodied bluegrass concoction.