The headliner at the 1st annual Traverse City Wine & Art Festival is Lansing based Thom Jayne and the Nomads. Here’s a sample of their work:

Thom Jayne plays a variety of instruments, including guitar, banjo and didgeridoo. Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s Rich Illman performs on trumpet. Michigan State University drumline instructor Dr. Jon Weber plays percussion, and fellow Detroit Pistons Drumline member Greg Sauceda joins him on drums. On bass is Heather Kulaga, of the electric bass duo, touching bass. Greg Howe, guitar, studied extensively with the late Ted Greene and also jazz legend Joe Diorio, and now performs on jazz solo projects as well as with Harvey Lee. Kelly Pond, on violin and vocals, performed with a variety of groups before joining the Nomads, and currently studies music education at MSU.

After performing and recording with the band ‘Pariah’ on the east coast in the late 1970s, Thom Jayne sold everything, joined the Peace Corps, and moved to the savannah of Ghana in West Africa at 24. Several of the band’s original compositions were conceived during his two-year stay in a small village there. Now a professor at MSU, Jayne travels four times a year to places such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia. These cross-cultural experiences, including a recent extended stay in Rome, have influenced Thom’s vision for the band and are evident in the eclectic style of their music.

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