Meet the Band
Barry St. Mane (banjo) is one of the most highly regarded and innovative 5-string banjo players in the region. He has played in a number of Bluegrass groups going back thirty years including Buckacre, The Middle Spunk Creek Boys, Minnegrassco (with Leo), Wheatstraw Suite (with Ben), The Pretty Good Bluegrass Band and Tangled Roots. The Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association named Barry "Favorite Banjo Player" at its 25th Anniversary Celebration and he is a member of the Minnesota Rock/Country Hall of Fame. Barry's unpredictable sense of humor on stage is a source of both amusement and terror to the other members of the band. Watch for Barry as an occasional banjo player with the Midwest's top band, Monroe Crossing.
Ben Manning (guitar) plays the guitar and occasionally picks up the mandolin plus he brings fine old-timey songs to the band's repertoire. Born in Bangor, Wales, Ben grew up near Liverpool where he was known to hang out with at least one member of The Quarrymen (later known as The Beatles). He retains a touch of the old country accent and as a consequence never tires of answering the first question people ask him: "Where are you from?" (To which he invariably answers: "Minnesota.") He has been playing Bluegrass music since 1966 with many bands in both England and the USA. In Minnesota he has performed with Woodrush, Wheatstraw Suite, Bluegrass Inc., and Dick Kimmel & Co.
Katryn Conlin (bass) began playing Bluegrass semi-professionally in 1993 and has played guitar in several Minnesota-based bands, including Strawberry Jam, Woodrush and The Skirts. She took up the bass in jam sessions with the boys in Long Time Gone and has since made herself useful to the band both in the rhythm section and in the department of harmony vocals. She now sings lead and harmony, plays bass, and sometimes swaps out for guitar or joins Mike for a tune on the fiddle.
Leo Rosenstein (mandolin) hails from Sioux Falls, South Dakota and has been involved with Bluegrass music for over thirty years. How a kid from the plains of South Dakota grew up to sound like a mountain man from the golden era of bluegrass is a mystery to us all. He has an amazing depth of repertoire and can be relied upon to know by heart the words to dozens if not hundreds of classic bluegrass songs. Leo is an alumnus of quite a number of Minnesota bands including Minnegrassco, The Dakota Drifters, The Nash Ramblers, and Kimmel-Rosenstein & Company.
Mike Hildebrandt (fiddle) was a member of the Twin Cities' Bluegrass music scene in the 1970's and early '80s (Platte Valley Boys, Buckacre, Good Medicine), but he went missing for quite a few years as he engaged in the practice of medicine and raising his family. Long Time Gone is very pleased to have lured him back to the bluegrass fold! Nowadays he also plays in a swing band, Jivin' Ivan & the Kings of Swing, and plays with Sandy Jensen and Toby Jensen in the Northfield acoustic trio Relativity. In 2007 Mike was honored to be inducted into the Minnesota Rock/Country Music Hall of Fame with The Platte Valley Boys.
In Memoriam: Jeffrey Kinnell, fiddle 2000-2008
Jeff was a founding member of Long Time Gone and fixture on the Minnesota bluegrass and old-time music scene. He loved to jam and could be found playing music in sessions all over the Twin Cities and at all the summer bluegrass festivals. Besides fiddle, he played mandolin, guitar, and banjo. In his younger days he was a “Dead Head," and often showed up for gigs in a Grateful Dead t-shirt, which inspired Kat to write the song “Jerry, Jeff & Bill” in his honor after he passed away from cancer at the young age of 56. Gone but never forgotten.
Jeff was a member of the band when they recorded the album “Leavin' Home” and can be heard singing lead on Old Plank Road and Hot Corn, Cold Corn.
Watch “Jerry, Jeff & Bill” at the Baby Blue Arts website