Peter Kim-Fredell,
lead vocals and acoustic guitar:
Peter likes to point out that he started playing guitar "before everybody
and his brother was playing the guitar." At the age of thirteen he joined
his first gigging band: trumpet, sax, trombone, guitar and drums, playing
the standards of another generation at the occasional junior high school dance.
But he and the drummer soon left to join a real rock and roll band with some
older guys. By the time he was fifteen he had taken over the lead singer slot
and written several songs, and the group had become a fixture on the active
high school dance and teen club scene of the day. At seventeen he had begun
developing the acoustic side, coming under the influence of artists like Dave
Van Ronk, Buffy Saint-Marie, Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell.
He started college at music school (as a tuba player, of all things) but that
didn't take, and neither did the hitchhike to NYC to break into the folk scene
(guitar stolen, the chastened provincial thumbs his way home). Not long after
came a touring stint in the Boston area as rock band lead singer, and a pattern
of moving back and forth between acoustic "folksinger" and electrified
"rock guy" settled in, until a plunge into world music complicated
the design. Eventually, he founded Stone Soup in order to satisfy a wider
vision of acoustic-style music, bringing many elements into the mix. He also
currently does studio projects of more "electric" original music.
John Bagale,
piano, flute, percussion, and harmony vocals:
John has performed and taught music in the Rochester area for over thirty
years. He has also composed music for television, film and dance. He holds
music degrees from Nazareth College and the Eastman School of Music. Currently,
John teaches music theory/composition, general music and music technology
at Penfield High School. He lives in Pittsford with his wife Moire. Together
they have three sons, each of whom are in the music business.