STEVE RYDER - GUITAR, VOCALS

Super, terrific, engaging, virile and excited to tell you about his history and plans for the future, Steve Ryder is just a New England boy clamming for some three-part harmony.  At age 13, Steve co-founded and played drums in the the revolutionary alternative super-band, Metaphysical, whose elaborate set list (i.e. 3 songs) consisted of Jewel, Beatles and Sister Hazel mega hits.  After an extensive tour (i.e. one show at the town exposition), the band decided to take a break and explore other adventures (algebra, Hanson tunes and life in high school).  Since that auspicious and prodigious beginning, Steve has thrown himself into a cappella, songwriting and peanut butter.  He found his penchant for musical arranging at Boston College as a member of the nationally-renowned co-ed BC Acoustics.  Steve is constantly inspired by his incredibly talented band mates, nature and his ability to procrastinate.  He promises to finish this bio, along with his med school studies, tomorrow.

BEN KUMMER - LEAD GUITAR

Benjamin Kummer grew up in Manhattan in the 1980s and began playing classical guitar at the age of 11 and early on switched to blues and jazz playing, which he continued as a stylistic focus for years to come. In college, sucked in by the ubiquitous club scene of the late 1990s he became a house music radio/club DJ and electronic music composer, eventually founding his own electronic record label Audio Mosaic Recordings, which served as a creative outlet for many of his compositional ideas. He currently serves as the lead guitarist for Delta Natural, where he balances the twangy steel stringed sound of the rhythm section with clean, warm pentatonics and minor 9th arpeggios. A slave to harmonization, chord stackerization, and saccharine intervals, he is heavily influenced by Grant Green, Jimmy Smith, George Benson, and of course the legendary Wes Montgomery -- as well as Eric Clapton, Ty Tabor, and Bela Fleck. He currently lives and attends the world famous Club Medical School in Philadelphia with his guitars and 6 Saudi Arabian wives. 

ROBERT PARKS - BASS, VOCALS

Rob Parks' father is a pirate, and his mother a ninja.  As a small child, Rob found playing bass to be a great way to escape from the humdrum life of looting booty and laying down mad karate chops.  After being tossed overboard by an opposing team of pirate ninjas, Rob swam to Alaska (cold water) in hopes of playing with the Army Band.  He succeeded.  Rob now resides in Philadelphia with the Turcina, where he uses his karate chops on would-be muggers and plays bass with Delta Natural.  He occasionally studies jazz performance and drinks green tea.

 BEN PARKER - MANDOLIN, VOCALS

 A native of North Carolina, Ben Parker started playing honky music from a young age. He was founder and lead singer of the classic folk group, Paul Parker's Backyard Brew, and the legendary progressive bluegrass band, Run of the Mill. His musical inspiration is rooted in bluegrass, jazz, rock, and world music. As a mandolin player, he tries to incorporate sounds from all genres of music. He is inspired by those that push the boundaries of mandolin playing: Sam Bush, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall, Butch Baldassari, and many others... He continues to study jazz, classical, gypsy and revisits his love of bluegrass often. Taking mostly a back seat in vocals for Delta Natural, he has been able to explore his instrumental impact on the group. Ben's biggest influence is Ben Kummer...mostly...then Richard Marx...their similiarties are uncanny. He has a side-project profession that will hopefully fund his daughter and wife's future, and his love for music.

 DANIEL TURCINA - FIDDLE

 Born in 1983 in Dolny Kubin in the north of Slovakia, Daniel started taking violin lessons at the age of 7, and soon received a Gold Medal at the Children´s Interpretation Contest of Slovakia, and became a Laureate at the International Kocian Violin Competition in Usti n. Orlici, Czech Republic.  Since 1997, Daniel continued violin studies at the State Conservatory of Music in Bratislava. As a prize-winner in the Slovak Conservatories Students competition and the National Violin “Award of Karol Dobias“ competition he soloed with the Symphony Orchestra of Conservatory in Bratislava, and with the Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra

In 2003, Daniel joined the faculty of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava. From 2003 to 2005, he was a member of the prestigious Bohdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra. In 2006 he was invited to join Capella Istropolitana in Bratislava for several concert performances and recording projects in Slovakia and abroad.  Daniel regularly performs solo and ensembles in music festivals and special events in Slovakia, and featured as a soloist with the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Kosice and State Chamber Orchestra.

Furthering his international education, Daniel was accepted to the class of R. Kuchla at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, Austria (2005), participated in international master courses in Netherlands and Austria, and in January 2007 was accepted in the class of Professor Schmieder at the Temple University in Philadelphia.  Concurrently, he is a member of the Bratislava Chamber Soloists and the Solistes Europeens, Luxemburg.