The Wimberley Bluegrass Band is a group of four siblings from Orange County, California who play and sing bluegrass music. While all are still young, they are already experienced performers, having worked festivals and shows all over their state and the southwestern US.
Danielle (22) plays mandolin, along with brothers Michael (19) on fiddle, and twins Mark and James (21) on guitar and banjo.
All college age now, the Wimberley family started playing bluegrass as youngsters, and like to point out that they never intended to form a professional group. Apparently people saw the cute kids playing their instruments and singing, and encouraged them continuously to perform together.
Danielle tells us that they asked their parents for instruments at Christms in 2006, spent ’07 learning to play, and did their first performance in ’08!
They’ve just now released their fifth band album, Traveling, along with a homemade video of themselves in the studio where they went to school at Chapman University. It features seven new songs written within the band, along with four familiar bluegrass classics.
Danielle had the honor to appear recently in a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial with Darrell Hammond as The Colonel. You may recall seeing the spot which featured him singing the praises of the tasty chicken with a mandolin orchestra standing behind him, under a tree. If you look at the image to the left, there she is in the middle.
Traveling is available now from CD Baby and iTunes, or you can get CDs wherever the band is appearing. Wimberley Bluegrass Band does perform regularly in southern California, but they are in school with plenty of class work to keep them busy, so dates are booked as their schedules allow. You can check their calendar online.
