The Yard Dogs feature "Spiderman" Charlie Kuchler on accordion, keyboards and vocals. Charlie is at home covering tunes from the Rolling Stones to Clifton Chenier in addition to providing dynamic renditions of tunes he has written himself! Ask Charlie to play "Bye Bye" or "Crawdaddy Bayou" for you (two of his own songs) and you are liable to find him standing on top of your table while he does so! Be warned, however - Charlie is unable to play the accordion unless he is barefoot!
"Turbo" Kip Lawrence, a gifted singer/songwriter and solo performer in his own right, holds down the frontman duties for the Yard Dogs. Kip plays guitar, 6-string banjo, does vocals and provides a sprinkling of fingertip percussion on his flat top guitar and banjo bodies. Kip specializes in writing ballads and songs that explore the sensitive side of life and relationships. Nevertheless, when played by the Yard Dogs, those sensitive ballads become "Cajunized" and are definitely danceable tunes!
Brian "Superstar" Travis provides the bottom end to the Yard Dogs sound, anchoring the beat with the bass sound from his hand made Jamaican rhumba box. Brian built the rhumba box after his third visit to Jamaica when it dawned on him that this was an instrument that could be played with one hand while leaving the other hand free for beer drinking. Brian also does vocals and provides some unique color to the Yard Dogs sound with a sprinkling of blues harp riffs.
Come see the Yard Dogs and you will soon understand that they truly believe "every day is Mardi Gras and every performance is a party!"
