Jascha Herdt is a graduate of Sheridan High School and Sheridan College. He grew up a drummer with guitar on the side, playing in high school bands and local jazz combos. A love for the blues prompted him to pick up the electric guitar and learn the intricate stylings of Stevie Ray Vaughn, B.B. King, Albert King, and Jimi Hendrix. You’ll find Jascha anywhere he needs to be in a jam. With a good feel for lead playing and a drummer’s sensibility for rhythm, Jascha’s style drives music forward and upward, the way good roots music wants to be.
Micah Wyatt, a Sheridan, Wyoming native, after years of playing cello in classically oriented groups, picked up his grandfather’s acoustic Epiphone and never put it down. After years of bouncing around from blues to bluegrass open jams, he finally decided to learn and expand on the songs he loved the most. Driven by a fierce love of folk rock and jam-band music, Wyatt is mostly a rhythm man, although rare days will find him hammering out acoustic melodies.
Phillip Cleveland, the third and integral member of the band, moved to Wyoming to attend school at the University of Wyoming. After a chance classroom meeting between Jascha and Phil, he began jamming with the group in early 2009 and has since used his musical prowess on guitar and mandolin to chisel out his place in the band. Bringing an unmistakable and masterful sense of rhythm and lead to the Blue Routes tapestry, Phil rounds out what was otherwise a lowly blues duo.
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Much to their surprise, but also to their utter rapture, roots music brought Jascha Herdt and Micah Wyatt together in the fall of 2006. Both students at the University of Wyoming, the two guitarists played together for the first time in September and found that a mutual love for early blues, soul, funk, jazz, reggae, folk, and rock music had infected them both beyond cure. Only a few months later, they were playing together on a regular basis, relying on a common musical heritage and a love for creating the magical and elusive jam to keep them truckin’.
In 2008, the proverbial planets aligned again and Philip Cleveland joined the group. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Phil's rhythmic mastery and subtle lead overtones on guitar and mandolin allow the group to explore even more of their musical potential. The addition of a third player also allowed Jascha to fill in on the drums, giving the group the solid core they'd been looking for.
The “almost acoustic” trio weaves sometimes familiar, sometimes progressive melody and harmony lines together in ways that surprise even them, and pride themselves on their seemless live grooves, as well as an ability to breathe new life into old standards. The group's live performances feature several cover tunes, but their ever expanding library of original songs reflects the roots that first inspired them.
summertime is treating me alright. I've gotten a few gigs around the state playing saxophone actually. a couple blues/rock bands. i'll even be on my first cd here in about a month!
congrats on the graduation! if you're going to be in sheridan at all in the future we should jam cause that's gonna be my new base of operations as of late july.
Jascha. Whazzupp? You guys have some great sounding stuff, glad you're having musical adventures. Best wishes for 2009, I hope you have truck loads of inspiration and great experiences. rock ON, john.
