The Cherry Pickers

The Cherry Pickers are a young bluegrass band whose lineup has evolved around banjo player Isaac Cantor and guitar player/singer Riley Hill since late 2012. Cantor and Hill met in 2011 while jamming with friends and Riley was soon invited to join "The Dead Horse String Band". That group did not last long but itching to tour and play bluegrass, Hill and Cantor formed The Cherry Pickers with mandolin player Rich Kearns and Kyle McCabe on bass. In February 2013 the group embarked on a successful thirteen day tour of northern California, with bassist Leo Suarez filling in for McCabe who suffered a serious shoulder injury. The band went on to record it's first EP in March 13' which contained mainly original material by Hill, Kearns and Cantor. The EP was well received by the bands growing audience and 'Bluegrass Today' remarked "A new young band.. walking the line between contemporary and traditional". In July of '13 the band embarked on a three week tour from San Francisco to Portland that included Kearns and Suarez in the lineup and finished the summer playing several festivals with seasoned musicians in the band including McCabe and the young mandolin virtuoso Scott Gates. Since late winter of 2014 the band has been joined by Bud Dillard on mandolin who hails from Grayton Beach, Florida. Summer of '14 was another successful attempt at building an audience around the west coast playing festivals like the CBA's Grass Valley Fathers day Festival and the Northwest String Summit in Oregon and touring throughout northern CA and Oregon. we like bluegrass!!