Band

  • Art SchmalzKeyboards / Vocals

    Art has played the piano since early childhood. His extraordinary talent, technical ability, and finely-honed chops have enabled him play a central part in a broad range of musical outfits over the last 25 years. Whether playing in the Northern Virginia-based GoGo band, Shady Groove, or touring the mid-Atlantic with the Cellar Door managed N'Est Pas, Art brings a unique combination of talent and musical sensibility to every endeavor. Art's articulate piano runs and swelling Hammond B-3 sound have become a central part of The Road's live performances.

  • Chuck CaspariGuitar

    Chuck Caspari handles most lead guitar duties. Chuck has played in a variety of bands since his college days in CT, where he majored in being a ne’er-do-well Deadhead. After following his wife-to-be to Southern Maryland in the late ‘80’s, he reunited with a former bandmate from those halcyon days and formed Running With The Big Dogs, which became a fixture on the local club scene as the house band at Mr. Smith’s in Georgetown and played numerous other venues including gigs at the gone-but-not-forgotten Bayou. Chuck grew up in St. Louis, Mo, where he honed some of his chops sitting in with Chuck Berry pianist Johnny Johnson at open mic nights when not following his idol Jerry Garcia around the country. He doesn’t necessarily play like Berry or Garcia per se, but their attitudes certainly inform his style. Chuck’s biggest thrill in music came when working as a stagehand for a Stevie Ray Vaughan show at The Fox Theater in StL and Stevie let him play the SRV #1 Strat during the sound check – the loudest he’s ever played to absolutely nobody.

  • John LearyGuitar / Vocals

    John Leary has been playing guitar and singing in and around the DC metro area since his first elementary school gig in 6th-grade in Alexandria, Virginia (an acoustic version of the Beatles' Yesterday). While a student, his college band, Blue Rider, played parties and clubs in Columbia, SC during the late eighties. Since the early nineties, John has balanced a demanding career in public affairs with performing everywhere from arts festivals in Virginia, to clubs in DC, to political fundraisers on Capitol Hill. John’s influences stem from his affinity for the Grateful Dead and many of the genres that influenced their sound, such as folk, traditional country, roots blues, and bluegrass. Prior to becoming a founding member of The Road, John shared a brief stint with Chuck as part of a guitar army in the Northern Virginia band, The Dirt Farmers.

  • Mark ShermanDrums / Vocals

    Mark Sherman started playing drums primarily as a way to annoy his parents. Having achieved that goal and then some, he got serious after hearing some of the great rock drummers of the '70s like Steve Gadd, Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, and Bill Bruford. Into the '80s and '90s, Mark fused further with jazz/worldbeat, influenced by such luminaries as Dan Gottlieb, Alvester Sims, Omar Hakim, and Jerry Marrotta. Mark has developed both a style and kit all his own. Playing a hybrid of a traditional trap kit and substituting such non-traditional elements such as djembes and tubanos - which enables him to switch off among hands, brushes and blasticks to achieve the desired blend - Mark drives the band with an earthy, organic sound. Throughout the '90s Mark played with the NoVa/DC alt-acoustic trio Choppin' Broccoli, and before that, was part of the Coconut Grove music scene while attending law school at the University of Miami.

  • Tom PhillipsBass / Vocals

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