| Band Members | Mark Burhans has been playing fiddle off and on since high school in the 1970s. While early influences include both swing and old-time music, he found a perfect outlet for his creative brand of musicianship in playing for contradances with the Hotpoint Stringband. That he and his wife, clawhammer banjo player Hilarie Burhans, have been playing together for 30 years is apparent in their undeniable musical rapport.
Clawhammer banjo is unusual, although not unheard of, in a contradance band. In the hands of Hilarie Burhans, the instrument becomes a driving force to be reckoned with. Hilaries musical roots include a father who is a jazz pianist, a childhood spent in Asia and Africa, and an adolescence which included many hours spent with local fiddlers in her Appalachian Ohio hometown. A 9-time winner of the Ohio state banjo championship, she has recently released a mostly banjo CD, which explores musical relationships with instruments as diverse as the Indian harmonium and the kanjira. A track from the CD was recently featured on the acclaimed HBO series Deadwood.
Mark Hellenberg has been playing traditional music for his entire life, beginning as a drummer in his fathers bagpipe band. Mark has been featured as a percussionist on over two dozen recordings, including two Green Linnet releases by the Celtic ensemble The House Band. In 2001, he was featured on stage with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and performs on their Telarc release Celtic Spectacular. In 2002, he appeared on NPRs All Things Considered with his band, The Sevens. He is currently a member of the Hotpoint Stringband. When not playing music with Hotpoint or a host of other bands, Mark works as a producer and music host at Ohio University Public Radio in Athens, Ohio.
Marlene Shostaks piano work ranges from sweet to driving to subtly nuanced, but is always undeniably rock-solid. She studied piano as a child, then began learning banjo and fiddle. She abandoned those instruments to return to her first love, the piano. An avid dancer, she was a member of the Coal Country Cloggers in the late 70s and early 80s. Her keyboard work contributes heartily to the solid wall of rhythm for which the Hotpoint Stringband is known.
Nick Weiland is a speech pathologist by day, and provides big bottom sound for the Hotpoint Stringband by night. He grew up in a very musical family in Southeastern Ohio, who met in the parlor each night after supper to play music together. He played drums in the early 60s, then spent a good while playing rock and jazz on guitar and electric bass before he found his musical home on the upright bass. His always spot-on bass works closely with the keyboard to generate the tension and release that are the bedrock foundation of the bands signature sound. |
