About The Bands

Bands and musicians I’ve had the pleasure of making music with.

Cup O Joe & the Buffalo
Cup O Joe & the Buffalo
Joe and I recently hooked up at open Jam sessions at the Sitting Duck in Woods Bay, and have since started performing together locally. Here we are playing at the VFW in Bigfork, MT on New Years Eve 2019.
BAND444
BAND444
Born from jam sessions at the old Flathead Lake Brewery tasting room in Woods Bay, the BAND444, Chad Leslie, Ayesha Ashley, and John Webster tuned their instruments to 444 instead of 440.
John | Lynne
John | Lynne
Lynne Avril and I played all acoustic background music at the 2018 Garden tour in Flathead Valley, Montana. Lynne is an expressive bassist and I applied the skills I learned studying flamenco guitar with
Peter Pupping for a year.
Smoking Wood Peckers
Smoking Wood Peckers
For over 20 years I was blessed to be part of the fantastic Smoking Wood Peckers band. A great group of good friends and fine musicians. Our weekly jams and occasional private party and special event performances were a true joy.

As opportunities present themselves, I like challenging myself to make music with different combinations of musicians. I like to mix it up to keep it fresh and spontaneous!

Chad, Lynne, and I played as the JCL Trio for the Crown Guitar Fest opening celebration at the Garden Bar, and Cup O’ Joe & The Buffalo sometimes have other musicians join with us.

I have occasionally set in with Chad Leslie & Ned Cooney who play together as Ten Bear Day, and recently I played at the Brookside Yard with Luke Hojnacki, Mark, Mike, Lanny, Brian, and Bill as The Music Lab during the Taste Of Bigfork event.

My Story

From an early age I had a passion for music and art, and studied both in my youth. I ended up making a living with graphic design but I never stopped making music.

I learned drumming in elementary school, took some private piano lessons, and eventually discovered the guitar!

The Rogues, my first band in Junior High School, played surf and rock music at private parties, and at our Junior High School graduation dance. In high school I was in Yesco Train playing rock, blues, and originals at cool gigs in Hollywood, the Ballroom on Catalina Island, and our High School Graduation dance.

I traveled around with my acoustic guitar writing original songs for awhile and eventually started my graphic design business, Abacus Graphics. I had fun playing in the Smoking Wood Peckers band for 20 plus years.

Now, I’m roaming free and making music with my friends in the beautiful Flathead Valley, in Northwest Montana and loving it!

“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.”

JOHNNY MACK • MUSIC ENTHUSIAST

Crown Guitar Fest Performances

Click on the photo to watch YouTube videos.

Behind The Scenes

Ever since I started making music learning by ear to emulate other bands and musicians, I have also pursed writing my own original music. I really enjoy both the spontaneity of playing live with other musicians as well as the challenge of writing and creating original music in the studio. It’s all good!