John Guay and Vonnie Estes became contra dance, life and music partners during the 1980s. After taking lessons from the late, great Hammered Dulcimer guru, Bill Spence (founder of Fennig's All Stars), John recruited Vonnie to back himself up on keyboard. The duo joined the Soft Soled Shoes String Band, playing for local events including the premier Dance Flurry festival. Following an 8 year hiatus while building their house in the 1990s, the couple returned to contra dancing and performing old as well as contemporary traditional dance tunes together (Two Bits String Band) and with others (Coppers & Brass, Heartsease, Daylily, Gigue-a-Bit, Set Americain, Tenpenny Bit, Up Front Session Band, Capital District Megaband, Saratoga Pan-Celtic Session band, Wayside Session band) for dances, festivals, farmer's markets and more. We (John and Vonnie) have been honored to 'play out' for dances, concerts and varied other events with fiddlers like David Kaynor, Pascal Gemme, Yvon Cuillerier, Pete Sutherland, Oliver Scanlon, George Wilson, Jill Newton, Laurie Indenbaum, Lausanne Allen, Barbara Lubell, David Roberts, Patty Rutins, Colin McCoy, Malcolm Sanders, Franklin Heyburn, Yannig Tanguy Nancy Bakemeier, Kate Ritter and Bernd Neumann, multi-instrumentalists like Steve Fry, John Kirk, Trish Miller, Maurice Mercier, Joel Rosenberger and Charles Fisher, and pipers like Iain MacHarg, Tim Cummings, Mike MacNintch and Ben Post. With Steve Fry, Betsy Fry and Barbara Lubell we are known as Set Americain and play mainly Quebecois tunes for dances. We join a multitude of players along with TradOrchestra leader George Wilson as part of the Capital District Megaband. As Tenpenny Bit we are joined for Celtic tunes by fiddler Nancy Bakemeier. With Patty Rutins playing fiddle we appear as Gigue-a-Bit. Pre-Covid, Patty also joined us along with Paula Shulman, Chris Barlow, Stephan Deibel, Martha von Schilgen & Melinda Durller at the Wayside Country Store in West Arlington, VT on various Friday evenings each month to play trad tunes for whomever showed up (donations all went to the Arlington, VT Food Shelf). We also usually session at the Parting Glass Pub in Saratoga Springs, NY each Wednesday (Saratoga Pan-Celtic Open Session); and, pre-Covid, we appeared at 3 out of 4 Up Front Thursday evenings each month (a 4 piece combo of ourselves with Joel Rosenberger on Celtic harp/piano accordion & Nancy Bakemeier on fiddle) except during flat track horse racing season. Vonnie also still serves as the principal pianist for the Heartsease English country dance band based in Troy, NY. We'll both also play traditional tunes wherever else people will let us join in ~
