Wry Bred band bios

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 dances at 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 have been playing for dances and events ever since!

Click here for a list of our past dances and performances and here for our home page.

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. 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.

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 are the founding members of the contra dance band originally called the Wingnuts, now a concert and contra dance band called 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 and contra dances as well as for special events.

Case Sanderlin

plays guitar and mandolin in Wry Bred and is the third founding of the band. Being a modest fellow, Case hasn't written much about himself, but we do know this: he says that his favorite color is clear and he claims that banjos are his friends. As with Julie and Mickey, he also plays in several bands. He plays with Jazz Folks and is a stalwart guitarist for Out On A Whim. He was also the guitar player in the currently defunct band Calenda Maia.

Dan Hocott

is a multi-instrumentalist who plays bass in Wry Bred. His musical life began in northwest Indiana, where his first musical instrument was accordion, for which he thanks (or perhaps more appropriately, blames) a door-to-door salesman. Fortunately for us, his real love was the guitar, which he picked up at age ten. In high school he played trumpet and after high school he toured extensively, playing the west coast college circuit, which accounts for his wide range of musical roots: classical, country, R&B, jazz, and gospel.

Among the other bands he plays in are Wild Notes and The Kenn Morr Band. He also is an instrumentalist at MidState Medical Center's music therapy program and is the owner and operator of the state-of-the-art audio recording facility Gabriel Recording, in Southington, CT.

Jono Finger

is yet another multi-instrumentalist in Wry Bred, in which he plays mandolin and banjo. He also plays in other bands in Connecticut. A fellow of many talents, he is learning to call contra dances and is an expert juggler. Previously he was in the California-based band The Eligible Bachelors.

Past dances/gigs:
2009
Fri. Sept. 25, Yale Forestry School, New Haven, Bill Fischer calling
Sun. Oct. 25, New England Carousel Museum, Bristol, 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
Sat. Nov. 14, private dance, Guilford, Bill Fischer calling
Sat. Dec. 26, Mystic Contra Dance, Mystic, Bill Fischer calling
2010
Sat. Jan. 2, New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, 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
Fri. Jan. 22, Yale University Library International Party, Bill Fischer calling
Sat. Jan. 30, dance, Graduate-Professional Student Center at Yale, New Haven, Bill Fischer calling
Fri. Feb. 12, private dance, New Haven, Bill Fischer calling
Sat. Feb. 27, private dance, White Plains, NY, Bill Fischer calling
Tues. Mar. 23, private school dance, Westport, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Fri. Apr. 9, private dance, Yale, Bill Fischer calling
Sun. Apr. 18, Wallingford contra dance, Wallingford, CT, Bill Fischer calling
Click here for a slightly blurry picture by Linda Liversidge-Daley, who we are sure is not at all to blame for the slight bluriness
Sat. June 12, Orange Street Block Party, New Haven, with guest musicians Robert Messore and Bill Fischer
Sat. June 26, private dance, Westport, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musician Bill Walach
Sat. July 3, New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, 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
Sat. July 10, Hartford Contra Dance, Old Wethersfield, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musicians Russell Orzechowski and Bill Walach
Sun. July 31, Stratford Cat Project event, Stratford, with Bill Fischer sitting in on whistle
Fri. Aug. 20, Yappy Hour, sponsored by The Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter, New Haven, CT

08/27/10 Best viewed on Mozilla Firefox

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. 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. 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 are the founding members of the contra dance band originally called the Wingnuts, now a concert and contra dance band called 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 and contra dances as well as for special events.
Case Sanderlin	plays guitar and mandolin in Wry Bred and is the third founding of the band. Being a modest fellow, Case hasn't written much about himself, but we do know this: he says that his favorite color is clear and he claims that banjos are his friends. As with Julie and Mickey, he also plays in several bands. He plays with Jazz Folks and is a stalwart guitarist for Out On A Whim. He was also the guitar player in the currently defunct band Calenda Maia.
Dan Hocott	is a multi-instrumentalist who plays bass in Wry Bred. His musical life began in northwest Indiana, where his first musical instrument was accordion, for which he thanks (or perhaps more appropriately, blames) a door-to-door salesman. Fortunately for us, his real love was the guitar, which he picked up at age ten. In high school he played trumpet and after high school he toured extensively, playing the west coast college circuit, which accounts for his wide range of musical roots: classical, country, R&B, jazz, and gospel. Among the other bands he plays in are Wild Notes and The Kenn Morr Band. He also is an instrumentalist at MidState Medical Center's music therapy program and is the owner and operator of the state-of-the-art audio recording facility Gabriel Recording, in Southington, CT.
Jono Finger	is yet another multi-instrumentalist in Wry Bred, in which he plays mandolin and banjo. He also plays in other bands in Connecticut. A fellow of many talents, he is learning to call contra dances and is an expert juggler. Previously he was in the California-based band The Eligible Bachelors.
Past dances/gigs: 2009 Fri. Sept. 25, Yale Forestry School, New Haven, Bill Fischer calling Sun. Oct. 25, New England Carousel Museum, Bristol, 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 Sat. Nov. 14, private dance, Guilford, Bill Fischer calling Sat. Dec. 26, Mystic Contra Dance, Mystic, Bill Fischer calling 2010 Sat. Jan. 2, New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, 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 Fri. Jan. 22, Yale University Library International Party, Bill Fischer calling Sat. Jan. 30, dance, Graduate-Professional Student Center at Yale, New Haven, Bill Fischer calling Fri. Feb. 12, private dance, New Haven, Bill Fischer calling Sat. Feb. 27, private dance, White Plains, NY, Bill Fischer calling Tues. Mar. 23, private school dance, Westport, CT, Bill Fischer calling Fri. Apr. 9, private dance, Yale, Bill Fischer calling Sun. Apr. 18, Wallingford contra dance, Wallingford, CT, Bill Fischer calling Click here for a slightly blurry picture by Linda Liversidge-Daley, who we are sure is not at all to blame for the slight bluriness Sat. June 12, Orange Street Block Party, New Haven, with guest musicians Robert Messore and Bill Fischer Sat. June 26, private dance, Westport, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musician Bill Walach Sat. July 3, New Haven Contra Dance, Branford, 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 Sat. July 10, Hartford Contra Dance, Old Wethersfield, Bill Fischer calling, with guest musicians Russell Orzechowski and Bill Walach Sun. July 31, Stratford Cat Project event, Stratford, with Bill Fischer sitting in on whistle Fri. Aug. 20, Yappy Hour, sponsored by The Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter, New Haven, CT
08/27/10 Best viewed on Mozilla Firefox