Joyce

 

Joyce Hennessey


Joyce helped form the Fresh Picked bluegrass band in 1975 and they were listed in Bluegrass Unlimited magazine the next year.  She played bluegrass professionally for years in the Frank Wakefield Band with Frank Wakefield, Paul Shelasky, Jack Leiderman, and Joe Deetz and also performed with them in a show with David Grisman at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.   She played with John Herald. She also played for years in a trio with Rick Shubb, Bob Wilson and Joyce on bass, and she was even lucky enough to jam with Jerry Garcia and Rick Shubb. Another time she jammed for hours with Byron Berline and he complimented her bass playing to the whole crowd. She has played bluegrass all over the world, in Japan, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Canada.  


Some of the many bluegrass musicians who have played with Joyce in Fresh Picked are David Elson, Ed Sherry, Jerry Barush, George Martin, John Kasley, Steve Scott, Al and Eric Shank, and the current players, Richard Brooks, Steve Hutchinson, Tom Cline, Mike Hanna, Harry Gray, Bill Monroe Lavender, with Joyce Hennessey on bass. Laurie Lewis played with us many years ago for some gigs with George Martin. So many great players! 


She has performed at the Oakland Paramount Theater, all three locations of The Freight and Salvage, the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, the Julia Morgan Theater, Woodminster Amphitheater and many other venues. 


Joyce plays bluegrass bass and guitar, and enjoys playing some classical piano for relaxation. She's played swing, jazz, rock and roll, Eastern European music, Gypsy music, classical and Latin music but her first priority has always been bluegrass. She has been featured on recordings including a record and CDs. She's written her own original songs including "In Heaven There Better Be Bluegrass," copyright © 1988.  Her current favorite is bluegrass train songs.


She also tries to give back to the bluegrass community, especially the California Bluegrass Association. She has been volunteering at the CBA Music Camp as "office guru" for several years and led bluegrass jams there.  She is very proud of her membership number, Member #54, so she has been in the CBA since the very beginning.  Joyce has been to every CBA Fathers' Day Festival at Grass Valley and organized the reunion in June of 2015 of those who were at the very first CBA Festival.


Joyce moved the old Fifth String Berkeley bluegrass jam from the 5th String when it closed in Berkeley to the El Cerrito Music Works music store and has led weekly bluegrass jams there since 2013 which are listed with the CBA. 


LONG LIVE BLUEGRASS MUSIC!