Irie Groves assembled in the early part of 2008 in St. Louis, where after an unlikely but serendipidous meeting, we found ourselves amazed to have such a powerful connection, both musically and personally. Noll Billings, our lyricist, guitarist, and singer, was born in Kennett, Missouri, and is living in St. Louis. Noll is an intuitive musician, and has an impressive and quickly growing list of songs that he has written. Danielle Aslanian, our violinist, also plays the guitar beautifully, and while backup in our band, is an amazing singer, and has been playing folk music on her own for years. She is from Arcata, in Northern California, although for the past couple years has been in constant motion travelling between seasonal jobs. Brian Corbett, our percussionist, grew up in St. Louis, but has spent most of the past twelve years on the road. He and Danielle recently moved to St. Louis so that Brian can attend Webster University. Over the past couple years, Danielle and Brian have spent winters in Mammoth, in Eastern California, and summers working as raft guides in Talkeetna, Alaska. The two of them have played together as a duo throughout this time, performing primarily folk music, but have really enjoyed the process of picking up the pace to play Noll's exciting songs, and look forward to continuing to explore, and open doors as we embrace different styles of music.
