Teachers

Daniel Barrett (Guitar, Voice)

I have been playing and teaching professionally since 1994. I have a B.A. in music from the University of Massachusetts (Cum Laude, Senior Honors), as well as studies at Berklee College of Music and the National Guitar Workshop. I was an elementary school music teacher (K-6) at Bay Farm Montessori Academy in Duxbury, MA before moving to Austin. I have been teaching adults and children private guitar lessons for 10 years. My band, PORTERDAVIS, has played throughout most of the United States. I’ve opened for Melissa Etheridge, Lyle Lovett, Patty Griffin, 10,000 Maniacs, Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul, and Mary), The Fixx, Marc Broussard, and many more. In town, PORTERDAVIS plays at The Cactus Cafe, Antone’s, Stubbs, The Glenn, and has performed live on KGSR, KUT, and KLBJ.

I am interested in you as a musician and as a person. I would like to know what excites you about the guitar, and what music drew you to learn more. That will be our starting point. I am very patient, yet I expect a lot from students. I love to laugh, though enjoy the serious sides of learning, too. Paradoxes like these, in my experience, yield the most complete learning experience. Teaching is a joy for me, and I accept your time, presence, and effort as a gift to handle with care.

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Geno Stroia II (Guitar, Bass)

I’ve been playing guitar since age 8 while listening to 50′s, 60′s music of all types.

My home has been in Austin for 15 years while working and building a career in the music business. Teaching guitar has been a wonderful experience as I continue to learn and grow with each new student. I enjoy the process of getting to know students so I can help them realize and reach their goals and maximize their potential. My best asset as an instructor is listening to what the student wants from their instrument.

We can tailor a program to fit those goals and needs while providing a fun, healthy environment for learning. We will nurture the natural strengths and develop the students untapped abilities. This “practical guitar” approach can fit and help students at every level.

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Guy Forsyth (Guitar, Harmonica, Voice, Etc.)

A Note From Guy:

I am a musician because I am a fan. I became a musician to get as close to this thing that I love as I could. If you feel the same way I hope I can help you be a part of what I see is the best of people everywhere, because when we make music, the world is a better place. I have been a pro for 20 years and played all types of stuff, but all of it has to matter to me, and to you too, if people are going to be moved by it. I believe that this is about the song first, so lets learn the songs you want to sing and play. I am available to teach guitar including acoustic, electric, and slide, ukulele, harmonica, singing saw, vocal performance, and stage performance.
It’s been a long and dusty, winding road for Austin singer/songwriter Guy Forsyth that has lead to a recent surge in praise over his dazzling live shows and his rich Americana roots sound. Forsyth (vocals, acoustic, electric, & slide guitar, harmonica, ukulele, and saw), along with Will Landin (bass/tuba) and Rob Hooper (drums/Cajon) bring a unique mixture of styles such as folk, rock, country, and Tin Pan Alley to create a sound that’s as heterogeneous, raw and compelling as America itself. You’ll hear powerhouse vocals deliver energetic yarns about love, the government and the apocalypse, to name a few, as Forsyth and company squeeze everything they have into each song and rarely come up for air.

As Forsyth’s fans already know, he’s a force to be reckoned with onstage. Whether he’s channeling the spirit of Louis Armstrong in his vocals, blowing a ripping harmonica or playing slide guitar – or making a saw sing – he’s always full of passion. It’s a passion that should be experienced live. Forsyth has opened for and shared the stage with musicians such as BB King, Ray Charles, Ben Harper, Lucinda Williams, The Neville Brothers, Jimmy Vaughn, Dr. John, Robert Cray, among many others.

The release of his latest album, Calico Girl, which features new songs as well as re-recordings of some of Guy’s most popular songs from 1999′s Can You Live Without, marks the fourth album for the record label he started in 2002, Small and Nimble Records and will be released nationwide on May 20th, 2008.

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Louis Landry (Piano, Drums, Guitar, Ukelele, Etc.)

I started performing at age 6, when I sang The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer”
at the Glenvar Elementary School Talent Show. I have been performing and
writing music ever since. After teaching myself theory as a teenager, I did
some session work as a drummer, bassist, and keyboardist, and played
classical percussion with the Roanoke and Lynchburg (Va.) Symphony
Orchestras. Then I went to VCU and studied with T. Howard Curtis, a
globally reknowned drummer, percussionist, writer and teacher. I majored in
Drum Set and minored in Jazz Piano. After graduating in 2003, I moved to
Austin with $20 and a van full of instruments. Since then I’ve played with
The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Particle, Shawn Nelson & The Ramblers, Ryan
Bingham, LZ Love, Nelson Ray & Friends, The Portal, and more.

Over the years I have learned to play the drums, piano, bass, guitar,
mandolin, baritone ukulele, melodica, trombone, djembe, synthesizers,
tympani, vibraphone, marimba, kazoo and lots more. I’ve independently
released 3 solo CDs, “IS” (1999), “ON” (2003), and LEAVING & RETURNING
(2004), and an original opera entitled “TELEVISION & OTHER FORMS OF TIME
TRAVEL.” I sing, write & play keyboards for a new Austin band called
PartyboobytraP.

At Red Leaf I’ll be seeking Beginning, Intermediate & Advanced students for
Drum Set, Keyboards and Electric Bass. I’ll also be teaching Beginning to
Intermediate guitar, voice, ukulele, melodica or whatever weird instrument
you have in the back of your closet.

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Jimmy Pettit (Electric Bass)

Terry has performed everywhere from New York’s Madison Square Garden to the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, on television shows from Austin City Limits to the BBC. As an original founding member of the “Ace in the Hole Band”, Terry has been supplying the “bottom end” for MCA recording artist George Strait for the last thirty-three years and as such has appeared on numerous gold and multi-platinum selling albums, two major motion pictures, “Pure Country” 1992 (Warner Bros.) and “The Soldier” 1980 (James Glickenhous Films). He has also performed on many television and radio commercials, videos and countless syndicated radio broadcasts. He has performed live on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson as well as with Jay Leno, multiple music awards shows, “pay-per-view” telecasts and two HBO specials.Locally he has preformed with the Floyd Domino Big Band, Johnny Nicholas and the Texas All Stars, The Rick McRae Trio and Javier Chaparro’s Jazz Ensemble, as well as Erik Hokkanen and the Hip Replacements and the Riff Ryders.

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Emily Shirley (Voice)

I’m a recent Austin transplant, Sagittarius, the oldest of 3 kids from a musical family in Connecticut, I began preparing for the big stage at age 5 upon discovering leg warmers, A Chorus Line and the record player – and I’m totally jazzed about teaching voice at Red Leaf.In my own musical journey I feel lucky to have worked with a great vocal coach. If I can pass on to you just some of the knowledge and confidence I gained in those sessions, I will consider this a worthy endeavor. We’ll begin with the idea that if you can speak, you can sing….. and we’ll go from there. Along the way we’ll explore your voice as your instrument, look at the difference between vocalizing and performance, and talk about the importance of being yourself. And ultimately, I want to help nurture your natural abilities and push you to go further than you thought you could go.I look forward to getting to know you both, as person and a musician and I hope that together with some drive and dedication, we can set you on the path to realizing your full potential as a vocalist and performer.

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Jess Klein (Stage Performance)

Are you a singer-songwriter who is just starting to perform live? Looking for some tips on how to really affect people with your show? I can help.

In the last year, I have toured the US, Ireland and UK multiple times and put out an album that MOJO Magazine gave Five Stars. I have shared the stage with the likes of Damien Dempsey, Erin McKeown, Adam Duritz, and Alejandro Escovedo. I’m known for being an incredibly powerful performer: “Jess Klein’s performance at Club Helsinki on Thursday night, destined to rank as one of the year’s best, was both an affirmation and a revelation…Klein is an intense, focused performer with a compelling body of songs which she fully inhabits while she delivers them as if she is writing them on the spot” — The Berkshire Eagle. The Boston Globe described me as, “Quite simply one of the most gifted performers this area has produced”.

I would like to help you be the best performer you can be. I am not offering vocal or music lessons per se but coaching you on how you can be your most powerful, genuine self onstage.

I recently moved to Austin and am overjoyed to be in the Live Music Capital of the World.  Looking forward to meeting you!