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Well, these days, it's just me, Austin Kaufmann, because I'm breaking up the Jackrabbit Assassins to move to Seoul, South Korea, but over the years, I have played in a number of groups.

The first band I was in, during my first year of college in 1994-95, was called The Brodie Set, but we were pretty much just a rock cover band. We weren’t fabulous, but I can boast that while playing an outdoor birthday party I managed to perform an entire song while jumping on a trampoline.

In 1995-96, I put together a group called Montegreene. We didn't play out a whole lot, but it was with this group that I really began writing and arranging songs. We recorded an eight-song cassette titled "Sweet Pea," which featured six of my originals. (Yes, I said cassette.) For the next two or three years I sat in as a back-up singer and guitarist or bassist for a number of thrown-together groups.

In 1998 I recorded a solo album titled "Sure Thing" with the help of a good friend Jamison Schweitzer, who played drums and did the audio engineering. "Sure Thing" remains the only album I've made that was professionally mastered, marketed, and sold. Despite the god-awful album art and lyrics that reveal youthful naiveté, a couple of the tracks have held up quite nicely over the years. [Play "Hinder" above. (c) 1998]

In the several years that followed, I exclusively went acoustic, playing the occasional coffee shop gig and folk music festival, either performing solo or with my brother Reid and friend Liz Lewis. [Play "4-leaf Clover" above. (c) 2000] On Good Friday, 2000, I laid down 18 tracks of just guitar and vocals. This "album," which I call "Good Friday," is a collection of mostly first takes, and while some of my best "folky" songs can be found here, I never sold or distributed it because the recordings were not of the highest quality.

Before heading off to Central Asia with the Peace Corps in the fall of 2002, I played for about six months in my brother in-law’s cover band “Soft Serve.” Despite the mellow-sounding name, we were quite loud (though not particularly tight) and had a very good time. Just before leaving, I also ventured into the realm of children's music, recording a disc of kid's songs and lullabies called "Early Bird Songs" for my niece. During my time in Kyrgyzstan with the Peace Corps, I played with fellow volunteer Tom Kiekhafer in a power duo known as T&A.

After moving to DC in 2005, I didn't do much performing, but I did write a song from time to time and even self-recorded a few new songs. With Garage Band's drum clips and effects, I had a lot of fun exploring a louder, faster song-writing style. [Play "Good on Paper" above. (c) 2007]

In January of 2008, pals Ben Weinstein and Vanessa Ylitalo-Ward and I started playing together regularly. We mostly just played covers while sipping a few beers on our balcony, but eventually we decided to formalize our relationship. We adopted the name The Jackrabbit Assassins and played all of two shows before breaking up due to my move to Seoul. However, we did manage to write and record one song. (Play "Method & Madness" c. 2008. Sorry the record level is a bit low.)