September 18, 2022

Eccentric Acoustic is a trio featuring Ruth Williams on mandolin, Sandy Stehling on guitar, and Scott Emmons on bass. They perform a wide variety of music, ranging from swing era jazz and country blues to more contemporary country, folk, and Americana.

Ruth Williams started singing harmony while doing the family dishes with her sister. She currently sings with Milwaukee’s Bel Canto Chorus. Ruth forsook the autoharp for the mandolin some years ago and has been a stalwart member of the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra for more than twenty years.Sandy Stehling began playing guitar as a way to avoid studying while attending UW-Madison. His transcript shows the success of this strategy. The lively folk music scene on campus at the time was a major influence. He has been heard playing as a soloist and in various groups in the Milwaukee area for many years. Scott Emmons, a multi-instrumentalist, is dean of the UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts. He performs in a classical guitar quartet, plays mando-cello in the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, and is the director of the New Horizons Band in Waukesha. Ruth and Sandy have been making music together since they first met some thirtyyears ago. They have played with Scott informally in various musical gatherings in the Milwaukee area, and have enjoyed collaborating with Scott seriously for the past four years. The process of combining three individuals’ musical tastes into an ensemble repertoire yields the serious fun that is Eccentric Acoustic.

Paul Smith & Andy Jehly bring harmony, humor, and laid-back style to favorite songs from the past, ranging from folk and blues to Motown and psychedelic rock.

Paul and Andy come from very different musical backgrounds. Paul’s most significant musical  influences are 1960’s psychedelic and folk rock, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Arlo Guthrie, Jorma Kaukonen, the Beatles, Larry Campbell, the Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield.  Andy’s are old traditional folk, R&B, and country, including Pete Seeger, Doc Watson, Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Aretha Franklin, and Otis Redding.

What they share is a passion for music with history, great harmonies, and evocative lyrics.  Together, they specialize in bringing a fresh set of songs from a variety of genres each time they perform to engage audiences and get them singing along. Both multi-instrumentalists, they incorporate guitar, dobro, bass, and the one-of-a-kind gourdalele into their music.

Paul and Andy have been playing together for the past year, although they have been performing solo and with other groups (Paul is also part of the acoustic folk group Cadence) for several years.