About the Roadhouse Band
The Roadhouse Band represents the merger of five musicians from very diverse musical backgrounds. We have recently been changing a few things in our line-up to become an even stronger band. With the addition of Long Island's new country radio station at 96.1 (WJVC) "My Country" things are looking up for a country music resurgence on the Island. We are pleased to announce the addition of our new lead singer Nancy Walter.
The members of the band are:
On Lead Guitar and Vocals: Steve Tannenbaum. A talented and versatile guitarist, Steve Tannenbaum has played with many bands over the years and honed his skills on the rock music of the late 60's and early seventies. He also enjoys southern rock and blues and excels on the tunes by groups like the Beatles, the BeeGees, the Allman Brothers and the great country rock groups of the era especially the Eagles, Poco and Pure Prairie League. Steve's guitar style is rather unique in that he does not employ the "turn up the amp to 10" approach. His understated licks and rhythm maintains the groups country feel, and the other members all consider him the one "indispensible guy," because...he is! A graphic artist in his "day gig," Steve designed the band's logo. Steve enjoys singing tunes by the Eagles and also doing some Southern Rock in the band.
On Drums and Vocals: Tom "Rocky" Pantaleo. Tom joined Roadhouse in 2010. No stranger to country music, Tom has played and is intimately familiar with all genres of music as a result of his other gig - as a well known radio personality! He's worked at a number of well known Long Island radio stations and presently holds forth on WBAB 102.3, Long Island's top rock station. Tom also served shifts in morning drive and afternoon drive on Country 94 WMJC in the 90's. He is also a talented recording engineer, producer and voice over talent. Tom comes to us from the celebrated Long Island country band Quickdraw, with whom he still plays some gigs now and then. Tom sings a variety of tunes and his voice is essential to our harmonies.
On Bass and Vocals: Another "radio" guy, Roadhouse Vic Fusco. Vic founded The Roadhouse Band along with members Mike and Steve. Vic plays bass and handles much of the band's business. He hosts the radio program "Labor-Lines" heard on Long Island's WGBB AM 1240 and also on WWRL 1600 in New York City and as of July on "My Country" 96.1 By day he is an attorney and managing partner of a large Long Island law firm specializing in disability-related issues. To show what a small world it is, Vic's radio show was heard for a while on the former WLIE 540 AM "Island Talk"....the person who convinced him to bring his program there...none other than producer Tom Pantaleo, who was working at WLIE at the time. And, who is the voice-over talent that voices most of the commercials and announcements heard on "Labor-Lines?" -- yes, Tom Pantaleo.
Vic is a die hard country music fan and loves both the old and new country music. When Vic was very young his uncles returned from the service and played country records by artists such as Hank Williams and Bob Wills, so Vic got hooked on country before he even started going to grade school. In the 70's he was half of the duo "Frankie & Johnnie" a party band which included a good number of country tunes in their repertoire. Some of the artists whose songs he currently sings in the band include Trace Adkins, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Josh Turner, Billy Currington, Joe Nichols, Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard , Zac Brown and George Strait to name a few. When he's not singing country he enjoys jazz, standards and oldies and is especially happy singing the songs made famous by Frank Sinatra.
On Keyboard and Vocals: Mike Pangalos. Mike and Vic have been playing in bands together since they were high school sophmores in 1964, with the "Spectras." The Spectras morphed into "August," where between 1967 and 1973 they played every type of Top 40 music, Soul, Rock, Disco, Hard Rock, Harmony Oldies, ..you name it. The group was noted for its one hour of non-stop sets of Four Seasons' tunes and hour long sets of non-stop dance music. They even played some country tunes (to keep Vic happy)! Mike is an avid fan of Joe Cocker, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, James Brown, Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, the Rascals, Vanilla Fudge and similar groups of the late 60's and early 70's. In the early 90's Vic suggested that they regroup and start the band up again as a country band. Long considered a "Soul" singer, Mike did not take to this very easily even though his wife enjoyed country music. After much gentle persuading Mike embraced the music and now truly enjoys playing it, as well as he enjoys the classic rock music we grew up with. Mike sings tunes by such artists as Brooks and Dunn, Garth Brooks, Confederate Railroad, Lady Antebellum, Neil McCoy,
Our newest member, Nancy Walter is a seasoned musician. Nancy's father liked to sing country music and as a child she became entralled with the music. Over the years she played with a number of local bands but started her country career in the early nineties as the lead singer of the very successful "Lucky Shot" Band. Back around 1993, a fellow named Vic auditioned to play bass in the Lucky Shot Band. Nancy liked his voice, but the other band members decided not to expand the group. Vic didn't get in, but went on to co-found Roadhouse. Over the years he'd occasionally run into Nancy. After Lucky Shot, Nancy switched gears and started singing other styles of music including standards, jazz, pop and hard rock, and some years ago assembled her own band "My Favorite Mistake" which plays rock and dance music. However, the hankering to sing coutnry music remained.
As fate would have it, in 2003 Vic moved to Suffolk and realized that he Nancy were now neighbors. Vic would frequently go to hear her band play, and of course would usually get called up to sing a few tunes. In 2009, Vic and Nancy decided to form a little side project, an acoustic duo to play country and the other music they enjoyed from many different genres - country, oldies, currents, standards, humorous tunes, whatever!, The duo was called "NV." and as a result they grew accustomed to working with each other. In December of 2010, Roadhouse long time Lead Singer Cindy Succoso announced she had decided to leave the group and take on on some new projects. Well, it was a "no-brainer' to have Nancy fill those shoes.
Nancy has a powerful voice, and plays guitar too! She already knew much of our material - the 90's stuff from her tenure with Lucky Shot, more recent material from listening to country music on the radio on the new 96.1 "My Country" as well as from working with Vic in NV and sitting in with Roadhouse now and then over the years. Nancy loves country music and it shows in her performances.
Nancy enjoys singing music popularized by such greats as Patsy Cline, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, Shania Twain, Gretchen Wilson, Carrier Underwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, Faith Hill, Alana Myles, Ann Murray, Sugarland, Lorrie Morgan, and Martina McBride to name a few.
Nancy is the perfect choice to headline the Roadhouse Band and maintain the group's reputation for featuring a talented female singer as the front-person for the band. We are happy to have her with us and we're confident our friends and fans will be happy too!
Joining us now and again is fiddle player extraordinaire Ben Swan. Ben played with the top names in Austin Texas before moving to Brooklyn, where he fronts his own jazz band, and also works the jazz circuit, but, he's equally adept at country music. At other times we are joined by the great Al Mueller, who played fiddle and guitar for many years with Ridin' High and later with the Lowriders.
Contact: Rdhousband@aol.com
Vic Fusco. Office 516 941-4406
Cell: 516-967-4760
