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Hap Mann & The North Country Band
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Hap Mann & The North Country BandPress Release
2006-04-25
Article Written by: Community Member
North Country Band
Performing at the Bandshell Saturday, May 27, 2006 7:00 pm
North Country Band was started in late 1993 as a three piece country group, and has grown into a five piece country band with Hap Mann on rhythm guitar, Larry Nolan on lead guitar, Gary Stewart on pedal steel guitar, Jerry McAndrew on drums and Danny King on bass guitar. They play old country, new country, as well as rock and roll music, reaching a wide span of music lovers. They are kept busy playing at local venues everywhere.
Hap Mann has been a Florida resident for twenty years, having moved here from Buffalo NY. He began playing guitar as a child, playing for family gatherings and house parties as a teenager. In the early fifties, he formed his own country band.”Hap Mann and The Country Squires” and played in the Western New York area for over thirty years. After moving to Florida, He played with the “Polka Pals” and “Marc Bouchard Orchestra” before forming the North Country Band.
Larry Nolan received his first guitar for his 12th birthday and began to teaching himself to play. He played with his family band, until discovering Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley, then moved on to a high school rock ‘n roll band. After graduating high school he toured with a front band backing various artists of the fifties. He moved on to play bass guitar with Charlie Daniels and the Jaguars” band for over a year, then gave up playing full time for several years. Moved to Florida in 1993, met Hap Mann at an open jam session and began playing with him in North Country Band.
Gary Stewart began his professional music career on the pedal steel guitar in the late ‘70s in his native Great Smokey Mountains area playing with local bands. After locating to Daytona Beach in the early ’80s, he worked local venues such as ‘The Barn” and “The Ranch” as well as Las Vegas clubs. Much of the ‘90s were spent doing road work with Central Florida bands locally and nationally. He joined the North Country Band in 2001.
Jerry McAndrew began lessons at the age of ten in St. Louis Mo. He played with several bands in the area then started up a local band called “The Prophets”. They auditioned for and recorded under the name “The Lynn County Blues Band” in Chicago and San Francisco for Mercury Records in the earlies seventies. After traveling with the band several years he retired from music and moved to Daytona Beach in 1973. He played with local bands for the last ten years, recording a CD with Victor Wainwright and the Deal”. He joined the North Country Band in March of 2003.
Danny King has been a country bass player since 1954. He began his career playing with his grandfathers band for several years. He then joined “Tommy Brown and Nashville Mustangs” band and played with them for over twenty years at Castaways. He retired from music in 1990 until he met with and joined the North Country Band in 2003.
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