All about Wry Bred, a contra dance/barn dance/family dance band

About Wry Bred Wry Bred had its start when four musicians, Case Sanderlin, Julie Sorcek, Mickey Koth, and Bill Fischer played for an event sponsored by the Stratford Cat Project in July 2009. It was a very enjoyable event, both because we love cats and because we love playing together. Case, Julie, and Mickey decided to make the band permanent, so that they could play for contra dances, especially those for which Bill was the caller. After an agonizing search for a name, "Wry Bred" popped into Mickey's head and everyone agreed that it was the best name thus far. So Wry Bred we became and we've been playing for dances and events ever since! Both Case and Dan Hocott (who played bass with us) have moved on--literally! Case to California and Dan to Indiana, and both have also gotten married. Robert Messore has joined us on guitar and Beth Bradley also performs with us on guitar. Click here for a list of our past dances and performances
Click for larger view	We went on a Southern Tour 2011! We played for five dances in Tennessee and North Carolina with Bill Fischer calling. We're very grateful to our friend Terry Doyle for making all the arrangements for these dances. Get a Wry Bred/Bill Fischer tour T-shirt from Zazzle!	Mickey Koth, Bill Fischer, Julie Sorcek, Terry Doyle, Dan Hocott, Case Sanderlin in Mountain City, TN Click for larger view

Julie Sorcek

has been playing flute since she was ten years old, and has been off and running ever since. She added piccolo in college, and has had extensive experience playing with high school and college symphonic bands, and in the late '80s and early '90s with the Danbury Community Orchestra. She also plays saxophone and occasionally bodhran and recently began lessons on the fiddle. She is a founding member of Wry Bred.

Among Julie's other bands are The Reel Thing, a western Connecticut-based group specializing in contra dances, authentic 18th-century colonial dances and concerts, traditional dance workshops for children and adults, and family or community barn dances, and Fairfield Crossing, a concert band that performs traditional and contemporary Irish/Scottish, Appalachian, bluegrass, New England, and French Canadian tunes along with their own original vocal and instrumental pieces for some additional flavor. She also performs with the folk trio Chicks 'n Sync, comprised of the ladies of Fairfield Crossing.

Additionally, Julie has been a guest artist at contra dances with Jane Rothfield and her band Jane's Gang, and with Donna Hébert and her band Groovemama. During the school year, Julie is the concert band director at Immaculate High School in Danbury, CT, as well as soloist and evening music leader at the First Congregational Church of Bethel.

Mickey Koth

was a strictly classical player for the first 40 years of her life. Like Julie, Mickey began playing flute at age ten. As a music education major in college, she learned all the instruments, except double bass and tuba. Her favorites were the bassoon and trombone. Deciding that she didn't want to spend her career teaching clarinet embouchure to sullen 6th graders, she followed the time honored tradition to avoid facing the real world: she went to graduate school, in the process acquiring two masters degrees, one in music history and one in music librarianship. Flute was her main instrument through graduate school, but she also played (but never practiced) viola. (And you wonder why there are so many viola jokes?) Along the way, she also picked up recorder and viola da gamba, two Renaissance instruments, and played with various early music groups, including the Yale Collegium Musicum.

At age 39, she started contra dancing and loved the music so much, she rented a violin for her 40th birthday and soon began studying with bluegrass fiddler and dobro player Stacy Phillips. Before the end of her first year playing, she had joined a pick-up band. She and John Kalinowski were the founding members of the contra dance and concert band Wild Notes. With her husband contra dance caller Bill Fischer she performs with Out On A Whim , a band of ever-changing membership that plays for family dances and contra dances as well as for special events.

Robert Messore

plays guitar in Wry Bred. He has been playing guitar for 30 years and he's been performing in some capacity or other for almost as long. Voted best instrumentalist in a New Haven Advocate reader's poll, Robert has been very important in the folk music scene by performing, recording, and organizing concerts and festivals (including St. John' s Coffeehouse and The Connecticut Folk Festival), as well as other activities. He is in a folk-pop duo The Woulds with singer-songwriter Alice-Anne Harwood. Robert also plays guitar and bass in the rock/soul group The Chrissy Gardner Band, and leads a juggernaut of a children's music program called Toddler Tunes in New Haven.

Beth Bradley

plays guitar as a guest musician in Wry Bred. As with Julie and Mickey, Beth's first instrument was flute. She began her professional music career in 1974 and has played in folk, rock, and Celtic bands for private events, ceremonies, coffee houses, and fund raisers. A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, she also plays flute, whistle, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, banjo, and dulcimer (both Appalachian style and hammer). Beth also performs with The Dini Band. Additionally, she is a graphic artist, continuing a tradition going back to her great grandmother.

Past members of
Wry Bred
Case Sanderlin, guitar
Dan Hocott, bass
Jono Finger, mandolin
Louis Audette, bass

Past dances/gigs:
2009
Friday September 25, Yale Forestry School, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Sunday October 25, New England Carousel Museum, Bristol, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Click here for a slightly blurry picture by Britt Goodman, who we are sure is not at all to blame for the slight bluriness
Saturday November 14, private dance, Guilford, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday December 26, Mystic Contra Dance, Mystic, CT, Bill Fischer calling
2010
Saturday January 2, New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, CT, Melissa Taggert calling
Click here for a slightly blurry picture by an unknown photographer, who we are sure is not at all to blame for the slight bluriness
Friday January 22, Yale University Library International Party, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday January 30, dance, Graduate-Professional Student Center at Yale, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Friday February 12, private dance, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday February 27, private dance, White Plains, NY, Bill Fischer calling
Tuesday March 23, private school dance, Westport, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Friday April 9, private dance, Yale, Bill Fischer calling
Sunday April 18, Wallingford contra dance, Wallingford, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday June 12, Orange Street Block Party, New Haven, CT, with guest musicians Robert Messore and Bill Fischer
Saturday June 26, private dance, Westport, CT, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musician Bill Walach
Saturday July 3, New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Click here for a slightly grainy picture by Ron Sorcek, who we are sure is not at all to blame for the slight graininess
Saturday July 10, Hartford Contra Dance, Old Wethersfield, CT, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musicians Russell Orzechowski and Bill Walach
Sunday July 31, Stratford Cat Project event, Stratford, CT, with Bill Fischer sitting in on whistle
Friday August 20, Yappy Hour, sponsored by The Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter, New Haven, CT
Thursday September 16, Contra dance, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, Bill Fischer
Friday Sept 24, Contra dance, Forestry School, Sage Hall, Yale, New Haven, CT, with guest musician John Kalinowski, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday Sept 25, Private dance, New Pond Farm, West Redding, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Friday October 1, Concert, Celtic Heels School of Irish Dance, Greenfield, MA, with guest musician and caller Bill Fischer
Saturday October 2, New Haven contra dance, Branford, CT, with guest musicians Bill Walach and Russell Orzechowski, Donna Hunt calling
Sunday October 3, Dance, Friends of East Rock Park, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday October 16, private dance, Woodbridge, CT (Case & Mickey), Bill Fischer calling
Saturday October 30, 50th birthday party, Eli Whitney Museum, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday November 13, Private church dance, New Caanan, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Sunday November 21, Dance, Wallingford Grange Hall, Wallingford, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday November 27, Private dance, Woodbridge, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday December 4, Quiet Corner Contra Dance, Hampton, CT, Don Heinhold calling
Friday December 31, Phillipston 225th Celebration, Phillipston, MA, Bill Fischer calling
2011
Southern Tour!
Saturday February 19, Contra dance, Jonesborough, TN, Bill Fischer calling
    Monday February 21, Old Farmer's Ball Contra Dance, Ashville, NC, Bill Fischer calling
    Tuesday February 22, Contra dance, Winston-Salem, NC, Bill Fischer calling
    Wednesday February 23, Contra dance, Charlotte, NC, Bill Fischer calling
    Friday February 25, Contra dance, Durham, NC, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday March 12, Hartford Contra Dance, fund raiser, Wethersfield, CT, Steve Holland calling
Saturday March 19, Private dance, Branford, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Sunday April 10, 12:30 PM Family Dance, Temple Emanuel, Orange, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday April 16, 8:30 PM Private dance, Yale, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday May 14, 8:00 Worcester Contra Dance, Worcester, MA, Bill Fischer calling
Sunday May 15, 3:30 Private dance, Wallingford, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Monday May 30, 11:00 AM Music and dance, Elim Park, Cheshire, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday June 4, 8:00, Quiet Corner Contra Dance, Storrs, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday July 16, 8:00 New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, CT, Barbara Goldstein calling
Saturday July 23, 9:00, Private dance, Litchfield, CT, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musician Roger Sprung
Tuesday September 6, 7:30 PM, The Outer Space, Hamden, CT
Thursday September 8, 2:30 PM, Private dance, Avery Heights, Hartford, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday September 17, 10:30 AM, Greenfield Hill Grange Fair, Fairfield, CT, with Beth Bradley on guitar
Saturday September 17, 2:15 PM, East Rock Festival, Orange Street Fair, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling; with Jono Finger sitting in!
Sunday October 2, 6:00 PM Friends of East Rock Park Oktoberfest dance, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling; with Jono Finger sitting in!
Tuesday October 4, 7:30 PM The Outer Space, Hamden, CT
Saturday October 8, 5:00 PM Private dance, Ridgefield, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Saturday October 15, 3:00 PM Private dance, Woodbridge, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Sunday October 16, 1:00 PM Music for the WPKN ArtFest, City Wide Open Studios, New Haven, CT, with Bill Fischer on whistle
Saturday, November 5, 8:00 PM Quiet Corner Contra Dance, Storrs, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Thursday, November 24, 7:00 PM Private dance, Redding, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Tuesday, December 6, 7:30 PM The Outer Space, Hamden, CT
Saturday, December 17, 8:00 PM Poughkeepsie Contra Dance, Poughkeepsie, NY, Bill Fischer calling
Sunday, December 25, 8:00 PM Mystic Contra Dance, Mystic, CT, Bill Fischer calling
2012
Tuesday, January 3, 7:30 PM The Outer Space, Hamden, CT
Saturday, January 7, 8:00 PM New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, CT, Jim Gregory calling

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Julie Sorcek	has been playing flute since she was ten years old, and has been off and running ever since. She added piccolo in college, and has had extensive experience playing with high school and college symphonic bands, and in the late '80s and early '90s with the Danbury Community Orchestra. She also plays saxophone and occasionally bodhran and recently began lessons on the fiddle. She is a founding member of Wry Bred. Among Julie's other bands are The Reel Thing, a western Connecticut-based group specializing in contra dances, authentic 18th-century colonial dances and concerts, traditional dance workshops for children and adults, and family or community barn dances, and Fairfield Crossing, a concert band that performs traditional and contemporary Irish/Scottish, Appalachian, bluegrass, New England, and French Canadian tunes along with their own original vocal and instrumental pieces for some additional flavor. She also performs with the folk trio Chicks 'n Sync, comprised of the ladies of Fairfield Crossing. Additionally, Julie has been a guest artist at contra dances with Jane Rothfield and her band Jane's Gang, and with Donna Hébert and her band Groovemama. During the school year, Julie is the concert band director at Immaculate High School in Danbury, CT, as well as soloist and evening music leader at the First Congregational Church of Bethel.
Mickey Koth	was a strictly classical player for the first 40 years of her life. Like Julie, Mickey began playing flute at age ten. As a music education major in college, she learned all the instruments, except double bass and tuba. Her favorites were the bassoon and trombone. Deciding that she didn't want to spend her career teaching clarinet embouchure to sullen 6th graders, she followed the time honored tradition to avoid facing the real world: she went to graduate school, in the process acquiring two masters degrees, one in music history and one in music librarianship. Flute was her main instrument through graduate school, but she also played (but never practiced) viola. (And you wonder why there are so many viola jokes?) Along the way, she also picked up recorder and viola da gamba, two Renaissance instruments, and played with various early music groups, including the Yale Collegium Musicum. At age 39, she started contra dancing and loved the music so much, she rented a violin for her 40th birthday and soon began studying with bluegrass fiddler and dobro player Stacy Phillips. Before the end of her first year playing, she had joined a pick-up band. She and John Kalinowski were the founding members of the contra dance and concert band Wild Notes. With her husband contra dance caller Bill Fischer she performs with Out On A Whim , a band of ever-changing membership that plays for family dances and contra dances as well as for special events.
Robert Messore	plays guitar in Wry Bred. He has been playing guitar for 30 years and he's been performing in some capacity or other for almost as long. Voted best instrumentalist in a New Haven Advocate reader's poll, Robert has been very important in the folk music scene by performing, recording, and organizing concerts and festivals (including St. John' s Coffeehouse and The Connecticut Folk Festival), as well as other activities. He is in a folk-pop duo The Woulds with singer-songwriter Alice-Anne Harwood. Robert also plays guitar and bass in the rock/soul group The Chrissy Gardner Band, and leads a juggernaut of a children's music program called Toddler Tunes in New Haven.
Beth Bradley	plays guitar as a guest musician in Wry Bred. As with Julie and Mickey, Beth's first instrument was flute. She began her professional music career in 1974 and has played in folk, rock, and Celtic bands for private events, ceremonies, coffee houses, and fund raisers. A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, she also plays flute, whistle, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, banjo, and dulcimer (both Appalachian style and hammer). Beth also performs with The Dini Band. Additionally, she is a graphic artist, continuing a tradition going back to her great grandmother.
Past members of Wry Bred	Case Sanderlin, guitar Dan Hocott, bass Jono Finger, mandolin Louis Audette, bass
Past dances/gigs: 2009 Friday September 25, Yale Forestry School, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling Sunday October 25, New England Carousel Museum, Bristol, CT, Bill Fischer calling Click here for a slightly blurry picture by Britt Goodman, who we are sure is not at all to blame for the slight bluriness Saturday November 14, private dance, Guilford, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday December 26, Mystic Contra Dance, Mystic, CT, Bill Fischer calling 2010 Saturday January 2, New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, CT, Melissa Taggert calling Click here for a slightly blurry picture by an unknown photographer, who we are sure is not at all to blame for the slight bluriness Friday January 22, Yale University Library International Party, Bill Fischer calling Saturday January 30, dance, Graduate-Professional Student Center at Yale, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling Friday February 12, private dance, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday February 27, private dance, White Plains, NY, Bill Fischer calling Tuesday March 23, private school dance, Westport, CT, Bill Fischer calling Friday April 9, private dance, Yale, Bill Fischer calling Sunday April 18, Wallingford contra dance, Wallingford, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday June 12, Orange Street Block Party, New Haven, CT, with guest musicians Robert Messore and Bill Fischer Saturday June 26, private dance, Westport, CT, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musician Bill Walach Saturday July 3, New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, CT, Bill Fischer calling Click here for a slightly grainy picture by Ron Sorcek, who we are sure is not at all to blame for the slight graininess Saturday July 10, Hartford Contra Dance, Old Wethersfield, CT, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musicians Russell Orzechowski and Bill Walach Sunday July 31, Stratford Cat Project event, Stratford, CT, with Bill Fischer sitting in on whistle Friday August 20, Yappy Hour, sponsored by The Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter, New Haven, CT Thursday September 16, Contra dance, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, Bill Fischer Friday Sept 24, Contra dance, Forestry School, Sage Hall, Yale, New Haven, CT, with guest musician John Kalinowski, Bill Fischer calling Saturday Sept 25, Private dance, New Pond Farm, West Redding, CT, Bill Fischer calling Friday October 1, Concert, Celtic Heels School of Irish Dance, Greenfield, MA, with guest musician and caller Bill Fischer Saturday October 2, New Haven contra dance, Branford, CT, with guest musicians Bill Walach and Russell Orzechowski, Donna Hunt calling Sunday October 3, Dance, Friends of East Rock Park, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday October 16, private dance, Woodbridge, CT (Case & Mickey), Bill Fischer calling Saturday October 30, 50th birthday party, Eli Whitney Museum, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday November 13, Private church dance, New Caanan, CT, Bill Fischer calling Sunday November 21, Dance, Wallingford Grange Hall, Wallingford, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday November 27, Private dance, Woodbridge, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday December 4, Quiet Corner Contra Dance, Hampton, CT, Don Heinhold calling Friday December 31, Phillipston 225th Celebration, Phillipston, MA, Bill Fischer calling 2011 *Southern Tour!* Saturday February 19, Contra dance, Jonesborough, TN, Bill Fischer calling Monday February 21, Old Farmer's Ball Contra Dance, Ashville, NC, Bill Fischer calling Tuesday February 22, Contra dance, Winston-Salem, NC, Bill Fischer calling Wednesday February 23, Contra dance, Charlotte, NC, Bill Fischer calling Friday February 25, Contra dance, Durham, NC, Bill Fischer calling Saturday March 12, Hartford Contra Dance, fund raiser, Wethersfield, CT, Steve Holland calling Saturday March 19, Private dance, Branford, CT, Bill Fischer calling Sunday April 10, 12:30 PM Family Dance, Temple Emanuel, Orange, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday April 16, 8:30 PM Private dance, Yale, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday May 14, 8:00 Worcester Contra Dance, Worcester, MA, Bill Fischer calling Sunday May 15, 3:30 Private dance, Wallingford, CT, Bill Fischer calling Monday May 30, 11:00 AM Music and dance, Elim Park, Cheshire, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday June 4, 8:00, Quiet Corner Contra Dance, Storrs, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday July 16, 8:00 New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, CT, Barbara Goldstein calling Saturday July 23, 9:00, Private dance, Litchfield, CT, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musician Roger Sprung Tuesday September 6, 7:30 PM, The Outer Space, Hamden, CT Thursday September 8, 2:30 PM, Private dance, Avery Heights, Hartford, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday September 17, 10:30 AM, Greenfield Hill Grange Fair, Fairfield, CT, with Beth Bradley on guitar Saturday September 17, 2:15 PM, East Rock Festival, Orange Street Fair, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling; with Jono Finger sitting in! Sunday October 2, 6:00 PM Friends of East Rock Park Oktoberfest dance, New Haven, CT, Bill Fischer calling; with Jono Finger sitting in! Tuesday October 4, 7:30 PM The Outer Space, Hamden, CT Saturday October 8, 5:00 PM Private dance, Ridgefield, CT, Bill Fischer calling Saturday October 15, 3:00 PM Private dance, Woodbridge, CT, Bill Fischer calling Sunday October 16, 1:00 PM Music for the WPKN ArtFest, City Wide Open Studios, New Haven, CT, with Bill Fischer on whistle Saturday, November 5, 8:00 PM Quiet Corner Contra Dance, Storrs, CT, Bill Fischer calling Thursday, November 24, 7:00 PM Private dance, Redding, CT, Bill Fischer calling Tuesday, December 6, 7:30 PM The Outer Space, Hamden, CT Saturday, December 17, 8:00 PM Poughkeepsie Contra Dance, Poughkeepsie, NY, Bill Fischer calling Sunday, December 25, 8:00 PM Mystic Contra Dance, Mystic, CT, Bill Fischer calling 2012 Tuesday, January 3, 7:30 PM The Outer Space, Hamden, CT Saturday, January 7, 8:00 PM New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, CT, Jim Gregory calling
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