Kent Gustavson:
Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo

Kent Gustavson has spent many hours sitting on the porch, looking out at the mountains, cranking one tune out after another that nobody really listens to, but nobody objects to either. He lived for two years up in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state, working as a cook at a retreat center, climbing mountains and sitting on the porch until the nights got cold. His good friend Micah Schonberg was his singing partner up there on the porch, and sometimes a person or two would come and sit on the porch with them. Micah and Kent have released a CD called Live in Vermont (available from One Soul Online) and Micah served as inspiration and musician in Kent's upcoming solo album Troublin' Mind.

Kent went to college in the Green Mountains of Vermont at Middlebury College, graduating with a degree in German and Music. During college (in 1999), Kent lived in Jerusalem for a year, where he played upright bass, toured and recorded with the Palestinian traditional music ensemble Sabreen. He then moved to Bethlehem, Palestine, and started a program in conflict-resolution through music for Israeli and Palestinian kids in Jerusalem, before leaving under duress from the international community there after the Intifada started in September, 2000.

Kent went on, after his years in Palestine and the mountains of Washington state, to get his Master's Degree in Classical Music Composition at the State University of New York in the spring of 2004. He is expecting to advance to candidacy for his PhD in the spring of 2006.

Kent is also an active composer of church music, having written two Masses, one Vespers, one Matins, and a setting of all 150 psalms, as well as an active composer of performance music, for soloists and ensembles of many sizes and instrumentations. Kent also writes bluegrass and popular tunes -- some of which are on the upcoming Troublin' Mind release, and has written two musicals.

Visit www.kentgustavson.com for more information.