The North Valley Tune Tanglers tangled their first tunes upon meeting at a music and dance weekend in northern New Mexico in 1999. The trio brings together many years of experience with old time music.
Liz Stevens played fiddle and sang with a trio based in Banner Elk, NC in the 1980s. She honed her dance fiddling style around Denver, CO in the 1990s. Multi-instrumentalist Michael Gallagher (guitar, 5-string and tenor banjos, fiddle, button accordion, vihuela) learned his musical skills playing around the mid-Atlantic states while living in Philadelphia, PA. Michael has traveled widely in Mexico and grew to love the tight vocal harmonies of the traditional music there. He was a founding member of the Sandia Hots in 1998. Started as a contra dance band and soon finding their groove as a performance band, the group needed a new fiddler and recruited Liz in 2000. The band was known for Southern Appalachian music, as well as tunes and songs of the Southwest and Mexico. Liz and Michael both played with the Sandia Hots for more than 10 years. Skip Wrightson joined the band in 2021. He hales from the southern states of Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi and has been influenced musically by bluegrass, blues and old time music from that area. He has played guitar since high school and his musical influences include Merle Travis, Chet Atkins and Doc Watson. Skip picked up the resonator guitar (dobro) since living in New Mexico.
As the North Valley Tune Tanglers, the group performs a light-hearted mix of tunes and songs from the early days of country music on fiddle, banjo, guitar, Dobro, vihuela, accordion, and snare drum. Each show also includes Southwestern or Mexican pieces. They have played as the Tune Tanglers at music and arts festivals, town concerts, ski lodges, adult assisted living communities, and local brew pubs.
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What people are saying about the
Tune Tanglers:
"Best music I heard since I got outta prison last month." Bar patron, Red Door brewing Co. Alb. NM
"Right, tight and outta site!" Rap artist, Albuquerque. International Sunport
"Best I've ever heard. Any ya'll gotta beer?" Festival participant, Santa Fe Pickers Festival, Edgewood, NM
"You were wonderful! You are great singers and musicians.
I loved everything about what you did except the music."
Resident and opera lover, Keen Valley Assisted Living Center, Keen Valley, NY. |
A sampling of past gigs:
ABQ Folk Festival • ABQ
Sunport Serenades • ABQ International Sunport
Ski Cooper • Leadville, CO
Racket River Brewing • Tupper Lake, NY
Ghost Ranch Conference Center • Abiquiu, NM
NM FolkMADS Boo Camp • Jemez Springs, NM
Lyons Old Time Square Dance • Lyons, CO
Footmads Contra Dance • Boulder CO
Atria Vista Del Rio Assisted Living • ABQ, NM
Coronado Villa Assisted Living • ABQ, NM
The Carillon at Boulder Creek • Boulder, CO
Keene Valley Retirement House • Keene Valley, NY
Paws and Stripes Celebration of Heroes • ABQ, NM
Quarantine Happy Hour •
Facebook Live
Cork and Keg • Asheville, NC
Todd Mercantile • Todd, NC
Rufina Taproom • Santa Fe
Solid Grounds Music Cafe • ABQ
New Mexico FolkMads Contra dances • ABQ, Santa Fe
Corrales Harvest Festival • Corrales, NM
Corrales Heritage Festival • Corrales, NM
American Indian Health Foundation Fun Run • ABQ
Downtown Growers Market • ABQ
Albuquerque Old Town Concerts on the Plaza • ABQ
The Mineshaft • Madrid, NM
Kactus Brewing Company • Bernalillo, NM
Canteen Brewhouse • ABQ
Albuquerque Oasis Lifelong Adventure • ABQ
Albuquerque Biopark • ABQ
The Village at Alameda • ABQ
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