Thomas Wakefield (guitar) At age 5, piano lessons were a weekly staple in Thomas' life. At age 10 the trumpet was added to his studies as the primary instrument, and it was during this time that he discovered two of his lifelong influences: Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. At the age of 14, Thomas purchased his first guitar after years of peeking into his father's Gretsch guitar case. Like many teens, he explored rock and roll, but his true interest laid in improv jazz and blues. Largely self taught, he studied as much jazz theory and technique methods as he could find, but pursued studying the styles of the great guitar artists by ear and transcription. Through college, Thomas composed and performed with the regional rock and roll band, Hit and Run, as well as Kingfish Crawl, a local blues favorite. As an anthropologist, one of his primary focuses is in ethnomusicology and he has extensively studied the BATA drumming of Cuba and its roots with Lukumi of western Nigeria. In recent days, he has rediverted his ethnomusicological gaze to gypsy swing and jazz manouche. Thomas has found his home! Thomas continues to compose, teach (private and classes - owner of Ashland Music Academy and director of music at Benedictine High School), lecture, and perform. He is a Dell'Arte guitar endorser and has performed at the Stonehaven Folk Festival in Scotland. Thomas along with his wife, Mitzi, lives in Hanover County (Scotchtown) with an array of cats and dogs. (Currahee, Cornbread, Clark and Cowboy – the cats, and Tito, Jock, Lucie, Angus and Minnie – the dogs). Thomas loves spending time outdoors, writing, fishing, and paddling – he is a big fan of the television show 24.

Larry Lyles (violin) began his music studies at the age of eight. A graduate of East Carolina University, he has taught instrumental music in North Carolina, Florida and Virginia. In addition to running his private teaching studio, Larry has performed with the Petersburg Symphony, Northern Neck Symphony, and the Williamsburg Symphonia, as well as numerous weddings and other special events. As one of the top jazz violinists in Virginia, Lyles credits his success to the influences of Stefane Grappelli, Regina Carter, and especially the late Joe Kennedy, Jr., who personally encouraged Larry to nurture his talent in this musical genre.

James Beard is our newest member of Gypsy Roots. A student of Thomas Wakefield, he is quite versatile on the guitar, whether playing Gypsy Jazz or Heavy Metal. A resident of Hanover County, he is finishing a degree at VCU. James formerly was a member of the award winning band, ENGAGE. This power metal band from Richmond VA formed in 2004. Its fast and melodic music was influenced by European power metal and other styles of metal to Classical/Baroque styles.

Rusty Farmer, bassist, is a native of Richmond where he has been performing since his early teenage years. He continued to pursue his love of music while studying at Virginia Commonwealth University where he completed his Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Studies. While at VCU, he studied with Clarence Seay, Mark Bernat, Paul Langosch, Victor Dvoskin, Doug Richards, Paul Bedell and John D’earth. As a teacher, Rusty has been giving private electric bass guitar and string bass instruction in the Richmond area for over 15 years. He joined the teaching studios at Richmond Music Center in 1999. His goal as an instructor is to motivate, inspire and educate the total musician. He is well versed in music theory, improvisation as well as various styles of music. As a performer, Rusty had the privilege to accompany John Patykula, Charlie Mosser and Kevin Harding by touring in Peru, South America where they gave a master class and performed several concerts. In April of 2007, Rusty had the opportunity to perform with Quatro na Bossa in Dizzy’s Club at the Lincoln Center in NYC. Locally, he has performed in the musicals Blues in the Night, Mame, and Red Hot and Cole at the Barksdale Theater and Beauty and the Beast with Theatre IV. Rusty enjoys playing in the musical genres of jazz, classical, country, folk, rock, pop, the music of Cuba and Brazil and many others. He has played with Old School Freight Train, Stephanie Nakasian and Hod O’Brien, Quatro na Bossa, Harry Allen, Kyle Davis, Spectrum, Liz Sineath, Skip Gailes, Nate Smith, Steve Kessler, John D’earth, Bob Hallahan, Royce Campbell, Used Carlotta, Louis Ledford, Anthony Dowd, Robert Jospe and Inner Rhythm as well as many others. He has recorded for Used Carlotta “Reckless Wheels”, Louis Ledford “Reverie”, The Children’s Miracle Network “A Time for Miracles” Volumes 1 & 2, Jackie Frost “Cold Lonely Blues”, Quatro Na Bossa “Summer Samba”, Kenny Epps’ Native Son “Sunrise”. Rusty currently plays with the Jackie Frost Ensemble, Gypsy Roots, Terri Simpson Trio, John Conley Trio, Tommy Witten Trio, Mills Family Band, Emme St. James, Quatro Na Bossa and the Butterbean Jazz Quartet. You can see him perform with the worship band at Commonwealth Chapel on Sundays, the Butterbean Jazz Quartet every Sunday night at Bottoms Up Pizza in Shockhoe Bottom, and with the Terri Simpson Trio every Friday night at the Hardshell Restaurant. To hear samples of his ensembles, please check out his website; www.rpfmusic.net. Rusty and his wife Susan reside in Richmond. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing, traveling, target practice and watching 24. They have a dog named Tootie and three cats, Zomari, Tibia, and Yellow.