Meet the Band!

Originally from Utah, Melissa began playing guitar in her mid-teens and hasn't been able to stop! Influenced by the music of the 90s, Counting Crows, Ani Difranco, and everything in between, she played in groups and as a solo artist through college where her influences expanded to include Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Gillian Welch and everything folk. She traded in the towering Rocky's for the Blue Ridge in 2001 and has been falling in love with Virginia for the last 7 years. Melissa recently rellocated to Northern Virginia and is excited to be the newest addition to The Big Guise Band! Check out Melissa in the studio.

Affectionately called “Stevie Ray” by his bandmates, Steve hails from the Tidewater area of Virginia. Steve purchased his first guitar in 1963 from the Wonder Bread man who called on his dad’s country store. He’s had a love affair with the instrument ever since. Influenced by early recordings and inspired by modern instrumentalists, his diverse blues-rock-jazz style is evident in the song choices of The Big Guise.

Robert is a Washington metro-area native whose musical tastes can only be described as eclectic. Growing up in a home listening to the Beatles one minute and Count Basie the next certainly planted a bug. During his freshman year of college, however, Robert decided that playing the bass guitar was far more interesting than going to class. For the next several years, while his grades continued to suffer, he began honing his skills. After several failed rock, classic rock and punk bands, Robert landed a gig with the heavily R&B-influenced band HoneyLamb before finding his way to The Big Guise practically right in his back yard. Check out Robert in the studio.

Jim started on a single snare drum and small cymbal in his parents’ Washington, DC, apartment in 1959, playing to records of Elvis, The Ventures, Dukes of Dixieland and all kinds of Big Band music. Armed with a used $150 drum kit, Jim joined an instrumental band in high school with the unoriginal name Avengers. After a four-year tour of duty in the Navy, Jim returned to the DC area and formed a new band named the Wire Jungle. In 2000, along with lead guitarist Steve Privott, he formed The Big Guise.