The Occasional Ensemble: Betsy Scott, Brian Smith and Ivan Strunin 6 pm Saturday, April 26, 2025 The Occasional Ensemble Betsy Scott, Brian Smith and Ivan Strunin Join Athens musicians Brian Smith (Guitar), Ivan Strunin (Fiddle), and Betsy Scott (Voice and Strings). They first performed here, mostly each by themselves, on October 21, 2023. They played as a group on November 8, 2024. Tonight they perform together again, but this time they call themselves, without explanation, The Occasional Ensemble. Images of Betsy, unattributed, from herself Betsy Scott gave a great solo performance at No. 3 Railroad Street on April 15, 2023. She then moved moved to Athens and tonight, for the third time, she brings two of her Athens friends, this time under the band name The Occasional Ensemble. Betsy wrote the following to us, before her first visit .... "Betsy is a long time, and forever in her heart, Alaskan. Is proudly a Georgian now, but will reside most of the time in North Florida, with her bush pilot husband on an airpark. Birds gotta fly. I am an actress turned songwriter. I have always sang ... in the theater, on the trail, with my sister and mother in the car. My roots are musical theater, jazz, celtic, folk, gospel, toss some country in there ... you name it. I love all kinds of music. I studied to be an opera singer way back when and sang with a rock 'n roll band in LA for a time. My songs reflect that variety of style. The actress in me tends toward story telling and character [development]. I have been likened to Joni Mitchell, Patty Griffin, and Laurie Anderson. Joe Craven and Eric Bibb have encouraged my work. I have a CD, Over Country [which] I released in 2014. What is my instrument? My voice. My gigging (not giggling ... but that too) has been up in Alaska at various pubs, centers, and often at the Seldovia Summer Solstice Music Festival. Looking forward to spending time with all y'all." Recently moved to Athens from Alaska, she loves Georgia and singing! Much of her original work is influenced by a life lived in Alaska; the struggle, joys and bliss. The deep-seated love of country, community, and a way of life. It is also inspired by her love of family and her extensive background in Theater. Brian Smith, unattributed, in briansmithguitar.com iBrian Smith, is a guitarist and teacher in the Athens area. Originally from Augusta, he moved to Athens in 1995 to study guitar at the University of Georgia under the tutelage of John Sutherland. While there, Brian met the members of the Georgia Guitar Quartet and began a more than twenty year career with the ensemble, taking the group to various performance halls across the country, teaching many masterclasses and recording five albums. The Quartet has been featured on NPR's "Performance Today" many times over the last nine years and has also been featured and interviewed on local radio stations across the country. Brian is also a founding member of the Georgia Guitar Quartet side project, Revien. The group features cello and two classical guitars, using various effects and loops to widen the sounds available to the ensemble. Revien has also been featured on "Performance Today" and has recorded two albums. The group plays a wide variety of music spanning many genres and has toured across the Southeast. Brian has been performing recently as a solo artist, developing his style and technique to showcase original pieces and newly-commissioned works as well as standard classical guitar pieces. Brian uses guitar effects and loopers to add percussion, bass and other sounds and voices to his instrument, the nylon 7-string guitar. His performance schedule has brought him to many locations across the state, and soon, the Southeast. In addition to performing and recording, Brian is a session guitarist for musical theater companies in Athens, Gainesville, Atlanta and Lawrenceville. Visit his website: briansmithguitar.com. Ivan Stunin, unattributed, in vanonthefiddle.com Ivan Strunin cut his teeth playing in the honky-tonk country bars of Chicago in the 1980's. He has since played in Blues, Western Swing, Rock'n Roll, and Bluegrass bands in various locations around the world. He currently plays with the Susan Staley and Maggie Mason Hunter in the Humdingers, Maggie Mason Hunter and Tommy Jordan in Maggie and the Mason Jars, and The Bones of St. Michael, a Gypsy Jazz group, and occasionally in the western swing band, Doug Deluxe and the Rodeo Cowboys. He has a new CD out, First Day of December. Visit his website: vanonthefiddle.com. Note: The Humdingers played No. 3 Railroad Street on March 10, 2023 and September 30, 2023. AND The Bones of St. Michael played here on August 19, 2023, and October 26, 2024. The Occasional Ensemble in concert, 6 pm Saturday, April 26, 2025 Please donate $10 to the artists. Mary could use something as well! back to top Modified 20 April, 2025, by Glenn Galau   |   Web Design by Glenn Galau