Dog River Boys -- Bio

Fred Donovan, Jr. -- Guitar, Vocals

Fred grew up listening to his mother's great collection of classic LP records. Back then, she almost always had music playing while she went about her daily routine: Emmy Lou Harris, Waylon Jennings, David Crosby, The Byrds, Arlo Guthrie, Willie Nelson, Van Morrison, Simon and Garfunkle, Bob Dylan - all of the classic 60's folk, rock and country. This early childhood exposure was to become the basis for his taste and creative approach to music for a lifetime. In high school, he began playing bass guitar with local rock and roll cover bands around Pensacola, Florida. In college, he continued to work with a variety of bands as a bassist and vocalist and was interested in everything from the delta blues and jazz to Hank Williams, Sr.

By the early 90's, he was playing and singing a wide variety of acoustic country and folk music. Shortly thereafter, he discovered the talents of folk-grass giants Doc Watson and Norman Blake on a second hand cassette tape given to him by his wife, Leslie. The first Bluegrass tune he learned was a number from an old Doc Watson album called "Long John." In 1996, he heard his first Bill Monroe tune and since then has been hopelessly hooked on bluegrass and traditional acoustic music. Over the past several years, his interest has shifted to the bottomless technical challenge of flat-picking fiddle tunes and improvising bluegrass breaks on his 1969 Martin D-35 guitar.

Fred lives and works in Mobile, Alabama. He and his wife Leslie have three daughters, Sarah, Mollie, and Alice.

Johnny Holston -- Banjo

Johnny fell in love with bluegrass music at the age of 12 when he first heard the Sullivan Family. In 1979, he enrolled in a college-level banjo course at the Pensacola Junior College in Pensacola, Florida. Johnny quickly came to understand that the banjo presented him with endless creative opportunities and began learning all he could from books and other jam session pickers. Johnny was invited to pick with the Sullivan Family in Pascagoula, Mississippi; and had a rare opportunity to twin on the banjo with Emmitt Sullivan to Hank William's "I Saw the Light". Thus, the fever was lit.

In the late 80's, Johnny joined Dolan Carter's "Gloryland Bluegrass" and spent 9 years travelling and playing a variety of bluegrass venues. More recently, he joined "Highway 63 Bluegrass," a popular south Mississippi outfit specializing in fiddle tunes. Together with Phil Proctor, Johnny formed the "Dog River Boys" from a group of pickers who frequented local jam sessions in the southwest Alabama and Southeast Mississippi area.

Johnny is a 22-year veteran of bluegrass music and was recently selected to represent the Magnolia State Bluegrass Association at the Beau Rivage arts festival. He lives in Hurley, Mississippi with his wife, children, grandchildren and extended family.

As Johnny's wife often says, "I guess you've gotta love it."

Jim LeMaster -- Fiddle

Jim LeMaster has been in and around bluegrass and old time fiddle music most his life. He stems from a family rich in tradition with oldtime fiddling. As a young boy in northeastern Oklahoma, Jim used to sit and operate the tape recorder while his dad, John, and uncle Joe would play the guitar and fiddle. In 1976, when Jim was 12, uncle Joe gave him a fiddle and he's been playing ever since, carrying on tradition for a fourth generation. Growing up in Oklahoma, Jim was exposed to a wealth of oldtime fiddle music and credits his style to fellow Okie’s and five time national champion Herman Johnson, Cherokee fiddler Jack Handle, "uncle" Dick Hutchinson and the greatest bluegrass fiddler ever, Kenny Baker.

After five years playing the contest circuit in the Oklahoma four state area, Jim was given a scholarship to the Hank Thompson school of country and western music located on the campus of Rogers State University touring northeastern Oklahoma playing numerous venues. Jim also participated two years as the "fiddling troubadour" in the University musical production of "Will Rogers at Home," an outdoor theatre depicting the life of the hometown legend.

In 1985 Jim join the United States Air Force where he still serves today on active duty. While stationed in Germany, Jim particpated in "Silverado" a country band composed of local Army soldiers stationed in Germany. After winning the local country competition, Silverado won the U.S. Army world talent competition for the country category in Hawaii.

Joining the Dog River Boys in December of 2001, Jim is the newest member of the band. He and wife Sandy have two children Zachery and Meredith and reside on the coast in Mississippi.

Chris Maloney -- Bass Fiddle, Vocals

Chris' musical background traces back to the early age of six years old when his parents bought him a six string acoustic guitar from the local music store for Christmas. It started as just another toy for him and his brother, Tim. A co-worker of Chris' father reluctantly agreed to start giving the brothers guitar lessons in his basement where they both demonstrated a surprising talent for music. In a few years, Tim took up the drums and they formed a rock-n-roll band with Chris as the front man playing guitar and singing. They continued to play around town for local functions and high school dances until his brother followed in their father's footsteps and joined the Navy to serve his country.

While rock was in his youth, country and bluegrass was his foundation. The greatest musical influence to Chris was his father, Gus. As a native of the mountains of Kentucky, Gus grew up with the traditional sounds of bluegrass and country music. Musicians like Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe and Hank Williams Sr. always seemed close by in the Maloney home. His father and mother, Lorena, fortified his music ability with the tutelage of musicians ranging from boilermakers to college professors. The influence of his family and instructors has provided Chris with a well rounded background that has placed him in this unique position as bass player for The Dog River Boys.

Chris is a native of New Orleans and lives in Mobile, Alabama with his wife, Sharon.

Phil Proctor -- Mandolin, Vocals

Inspired by Elvis Presley, Phil got his first guitar at the age of twelve and proceeded to learn one chord-E-from an experienced flatpicker who lived next door. That chord, and that twenty dollar Sears & Roebuck guitar, would hold Phil until his freshman year in high school. Inspired by Black Oak Arkansas, he decided to buckle down and really learn how to play. With a borrowed Kingston electric (four pickups, six switches and two knobs!) he began picking out tunes by Grand Funk Railroad, The James Gang, and Jethro Tull. Before long he and two friends had formed their first band-Zebedee-and were soon playing dances at the local YMCA in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama.

Throughout his teens and twenties, Proctor played in a succession of rock and roll bands around Alabama (Leeman Fly, Nuke the Whales, Instant Karma, Heady Brew), but became increasingly disillusioned with the glamorous world of small-time rock bands. After moving in with his parents (who had moved back to their hometown of Scottsboro, some forty miles to the east), Phil discovered his roots in the hills and hollows of Jackson County. There he also found the music of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Roy Acuff, and many others who had made country music history. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Playing in an acoustic duo with college friend Walon Smith, Proctor began introducing bluegrass tunes into their already diverse repertoire. At the ripe old age of thirty-four he got his first mandolin-a 1936 Kalamazoo KM21-and began to dig ever deeper into the world of bluegrass. Married and living in Mobile, Alabama, Phil met Fred Donovan (guitar) and Johnny Holston (banjo) through jam sessions at West Mobile Music in the latter half of 2000. The three formed the Dog River Boys, naming the band after a local waterway that flows near their homes and into Mobile Bay, and were soon joined by bassist Christian Maloney and fiddler Jim LeMaster. Proctor was chosen as the band's frontman due to his boyish good looks and devil-may-care attitude, and loves the attention that is showered upon him at every turn.

In his free time, Phil teaches American History and Southern Culture at McGill-Toolen High School, and enjoys livestock auctions, camping, chasing trains, and other non-profit activities. He and his wife Shelly have three children -- Jack, Sam, and Maggie.

Proctor lists Bill Monroe, Walter Berry, Miles Davis, Keating Johns, Sam Bush, Walon Smith and Duane Allman as his primary musical influences.