Fireball Mail

BAND MEMBER BIOS: Brad Bulla - guitar, vocals Brad Bulla was born and raised in North Carolina with an early exposure to bluegrass music. After hearing "Dueling Banjos" for the first time at the age of 13, and watching the "Darlins" on the Andy Griffith show, Brad was captivated by the high lonesome sound, picked up the banjo and guitar and headed down the Bluegrass road. His early inspiration came from attending shows and festivals where he listened to such pioneers as Doc and Merle Watson, Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, Tony Rice, and Ricky Skaggs. After high school, Brad headed west, attended Montana State University, and eventually settled on the banks of the Columbia River in very rural NE Washington State. Initially, Brad toured the country performing with a small group, but with a growing family of his own - seven children in all - a family band was born - The Bullas. Along with performing at festivals, fairs and concert venues, Brad became the Western Open Flatpick Guitar Champion, and the runner up Indiana State Banjo Champion. The Bullas stayed extremely busy from the mid 80's until the turn of the century performing in every state but Maine and Alaska, opening shows for some of Country and Bluegrass Music’s biggest names including Merle Haggard, Restless Heart, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Ray Price, Randy Travis, Charlie Pride, and Ricky Skaggs to name a few. Additionally, The Bullas recorded on Rounder Records, made appearances at the Grand Ole Opry, and were featured on National TV shows such as The Statler Brothers Show, and Nashville Now. Brad came to Nashville in 1999, and in addition to performing, established a Radio Promotions Company promoting artists such as Ricky Skaggs, The Del McCoury Band, and Blue Highway to Radio. Brad currently owns and operates Bulla Promotions - an artist management company based in Nashville, Tennessee. ____________________________________________________________________ Phil Easterbrook - dobro, banjo, vocals Multi-instrumentalist Phil Easterbrook began his journey into bluegrass music in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Phil has played banjo, guitar and resonator guitar in bluegrass bands since 1976. As a featured player in both "The Reasonable Band" with David Harvey and the "Heartland Band", based out of Colorado, Phil has performed at many national level events in the western region such as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival, the Kerrville Bluegrass Festival and the Rocky Grass Festival. Phil relocated to the Huntsville, Alabama area in 1999 and started to get integrated into the local acoustic music scene. Having been a longtime fan of Claire Lynch’s music, Phil contacted Claire, who was living in North Alabama at the time and helped bring her back out of “retirement”. From 2002 through 2005, Phil toured with Claire, playing banjo, guitar and singing harmony as a member of the Claire Lynch Band. The word soon got around that Claire was touring again and the band was honored to play at venues such as Hardly Strictly Music Festival, Rockygrass, The Lucy Opry, the Station Inn and many others. Phil's recordings include four albums with his bluegrass bands and one album with jazz legends, "The Ralph Sutton Trio". He has been a session player on numerous recording projects and now enjoys picking with the Walker Street Opry band. Phil has also recently released two solo CD projects, Rainy Day Sessions and Acoustic Christmas, which feature Phil on all of the instruments and vocals. Phil operates a project recording studio, Rocket City Roots in Huntsville, Alabama and specializes in acoustic music production. _____________________________________________________________________ Caleb Edwards - mandolin, vocals Caleb Edwards, originally from Metamora, IN, has been playing mandolin since the age of 12, and has been emerging in the Cincinnati and Indianapolis music scenes as a unique mandolinist, and vocalist. A graduate of the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music, he's studied under legends such as Bobby Osborne, and Newgrass Revival's Curtis Burch. He is fluent in jazz, rock, and classical as he is bluegrass, and brings a little bit of everything to each performance. _____________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ FIREBALL MAIL Written by Floyd Jenkins (aka Fred Rose) circa 1942 Here she comes - look at her roll There she goes - eatin' that coal Watch her fly - look at her sail let her by, by, by - it's the Fireball Mail. CHORUS Let her go - look at her steam Hear her blow - whistle and scream Like a hound - waggin' his tail Dallas bound, bound, bound - the Fireball Mail. Engineer - makin' up time Tracks are clear - look at her climb See that freight - clearin' the rail Bet she's late, late, late - the Fireball Mail. Watch her swerve - look at her sway Get that curve - out of the way Watch her fly - look at her sail Let her by, by, by - the Fireball Mail. Fireball Mail bluegrass band - Winners of the 2016 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest- a soul stirring mixture of original and traditional tunes.