Biography

Tim Wiedenkeller was born in Southern California in 1959 to Ted, a Marine Corps pilot, and Doris, a homemaker and teacher. He was fourth of five children. He began singing in the boy's choir at 6, and became a soloist soon after. He began playing trumpet in 3rd grade and played in school bands until 11th grade.

There was a lot of music and encouragement around the house during Tim's childhood. His mother was a singer and pianist, his father occasionally played clarinet, his sisters took piano lessons, sang, and acted in the community theater, and his older brother played guitar. However, Tim is the only one in his family to follow in the footsteps of his granparents as professional musicians. His grandfather studied under his friends the Damrosch's, founders of the Institute of Musical Art which later became The Julliard School of Music. He was also the Army Bandleader, a conductor, composer, and performer on flute and piccolo - occasionally with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. His grandmother sang with the LA Master Chorale and taught organ, voice, piano, and accordion.

As a teenage surfer, Tim ironically took a strong interest in the banjo, and at 16 began his love affair with music. He and best friend Jeff Harvey quickly learned to play well enough to attend regular jam sessions. They soon were invited to form a band with Ken Orrick called Last Chance, which concentrated on tight, powerful vocal harmonies. Last Chance premiered their sound during a guest spot at the Golden West Bluegrass Festival in late 1977. The audience and promoters adored them, and they began traveling the festival circuit.

And so Tim and Jeff, with long sunbleached hair, found themselves traveling around playing hillbilly music to audiences of thousands. Young fiddle-playing phenomenon Stuart Duncan joined the band in 1978. Several personnel changes occurred as Tim, Jeff, and Stuart held the band together and were featured in Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree at LA's famed Shrine Auditorium. They later added Alison Brown (on dobro), Roger Reed, Gene Libbea, and Patrick Brayer, among others, appearing with Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Don Reno, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, the Osborne Brothers, Jim & Jesse, Country Gentlemen, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, and Emmylou Harris. After Last Chance disbanded, Tim and Jeff played for a while in a band with twins Janet and Judith Robinson, performing newgrass, country, pop, and swing.

From the diverse musical influences he was exposed to growing up in Southern California, Tim had already begun to incorporate more complex harmonic and rhythmic musical styles into his banjo playing. Unable to find an audience or playing opportunities that were ready for this, he chose to concentrate exclusively on the guitar.

Tim began playing electric guitar in bands, and this became his main instrument for many years. As a freelancing guitarist and vocalist, he played in bands with Greg Leisz, Rosie Flores, Kenny Orsow, Jay Leach, and Al Perkins. He soon moved toward jazz, fusion, and rock playing with Michael Tavera, Mark T. Williams, Dave Spurr, Mark Hugenberger, Brandon Fields, and Tim Heintz.

In 1983, Tim made his first recording of an original song at Ocean Way in Hollywood, with Alan Sides as engineer. The song was recorded with two guitars, piano, bass, drums, sixteen strings, french horn, oboe, harp, and tympani. He continued to record at several major studios in Los Angeles, working with major producers including Jimmy Haskell, Mark Ettel, and Henry Lewy. He worked full time as a songwriter, composer, studio musician and vocalist, and producer.

In 1985, Tim formed the band Max with Mike Tavera to record songs he wrote for an aborted Concerts West multi-media production, SurfFest. They recorded a single vinyl record, co-produced by Jimmy Haskell. Tim attended over 100 record company meetings seeking distribution, but was unsuccessful - and soon became burned out on the business of music.

In 1987, Tim moved to Japan to work in music and eventually traveled and worked throughout the Orient, Southeast Asia, South Pacific, and continental US before resettling in Southern California. These travels exposed him to a diversity of cultures and music which influenced him greatly.

He continued expanding in new musical directions: Original Music with Mark Wood, Ethnic and World, Mediterranean and Continental with Santo Giuliano; R & B and Soul with Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers; Doo-Wop with The Shower Singers; and retro-country with Chris Darrow of Kaleidoscope.

In 1993, Tim and his family moved to Maui, where he played in many bands, owned a recording studio, and wrote and recorded music for the musical "The Garden of Be" with Mewe Productions creator and friend Tess Cartwright.

When he was hired to play banjo with the Maui Symphony Orchestra, he began seriously playing banjo for the first time in almost 15 years. With his rekindled affection for the instrument and revived technique, a decade and a half of musical influences began pouring out of the banjo in the form of classical music, so he started writing original classical banjo compositions.

In late 1995 he returned to Southern California with his family. He continued to compose classical banjo music, and also created the 10-piece band "banjambo" with saxophonist Paul Carman (of Frank Zappa's band), drummer Steve Distanislao (of Pink Floyd, Crosby Nash, Kenny Loggins, and ELP) and fiddler Craig Eastman. In banjambo, Tim incorporated the banjo into jazz and a very eclectic mix of music. He also played original reggae-based world music with bassist Ronnie ("Stepper") McQueen of Steel Pulse, and joined DMZ with McQueen and keyboardist Steven DeWitt.

In 1999, Tim and his family moved to Tucson, Arizona. He started playing bluegrass music again in the band Frog Mountain with Peter McLaughlin and Chris Brashears.

By the mid 90's, he had started regularly composing and recording soundtracks for film and TV, focusing on documentaries. In 2004, he scored the music for Clokey Productions' stop-motion animation release of "Davey & Goliath's Snowboard Adventure" based on their original television series from the 60's and wrote the preliminary music for their upcoming "Gumby vs. the Astrobots".

In the early 2000's Tim started writing more personal and heartfelt original instrumental and vocal songs and began promoting his own original music concerts with guests, including flatpicking guitar champion Peter McLaughlin, champion fiddler Jesse Stockman, virtuoso bassist/violinist Rob Paulus, kalimba master Mark Holdaway, didgeridoo player Allan Shockley, percussionists Todd Hammes and Jeff Friedl, vocalist Debbie Daly, mandolin player Mark Robertson-Tessi, and others.

Tim has become a favorite performer in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Southern California, playing sold-out concerts to growing audiences. He is gaining widespread recognition with invitations to travel to festivals and concerts.

In 2004 "The Sevan" was built, which is now one of Tim's main instruments. It's a 7-stringed hybrid of guitar and banjo, and a page of this website is dedicated to the instrument and its builder, Dennis Coon. Click here for The Sevan Page.

In December 2004, Tim released his first CD, "Milagros,"which is a collection of original classical banjo compositions. In July 2005, Milagros was featured on NPR (National Public Radio).

In September 2005 Tim was honored by being invited to perform a short concert for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In 2007 Tim recorded a single of "The New Old Pueblo," a song that humorously laments the loss of cultures and traditions in the modernization Southern Arizona. The world-class recording included Lalo Guerrero, his son Mark Guerrero, Mindy Ronstadt (Linda's niece), and other great musicians.

In 2008 he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he is gaining widespread recognition as a versatile performer and composer.

Tim's upcoming CD, "Soul House," will feature an eclectic variety of original vocal songs.