"the boys of R and one Girl" currently play classic rock songs that are appropriate for all age groups. Hunter, Tanner and Connor are brothers and the original members of the band.  They became interested in 70’s and 80’s classic rock several years ago after seeing the movie "School of Rock".  After taking individual lessons for over a year, they began playing together and formed the original band in early 2007.  Their first gigs were a couple of small performances at the elementary school they were attending.  They got their first “big break”, in May 2007, while playing in their own backyard when Don Stuck, a DJ for a local radio station that also has his own band The Don Stuck Band, heard them playing.  He thought they sounded good for their age and invited them to open for his band at some of their gigs.  They realized that they needed to find a vocalist.  Sawyer, (who left the band in May 2009 for personal reasons) was added to the band as the lead vocalist.  They decided on the name “the boys of R” because each of their names ended in the letter R and they like Rock music. 

In late 2007 they were looking to add another vocalist.  They heard a sound track of Jillian singing and were so impressed with her talent, that they invited her to be the “girl” in “the boys of R”.  At this point they began calling themselves “the boys of R and one Girl” for obvious reasons!

In mid 2009, after Sawyer's departure, the band decided to add a rhythm guitar player, Jillian's stepbrother Corey had recently started lessons and seemed like the perfect fit.  Corey joined the band in late 2009.

They all work very hard to continue to hone their skills and grow as musicians and performers.  Hunter, who is a member of his high school's marching band,  takes lessons from Shawn Kern, the owner of Hands On Music.  Shawn also gives regular group lessons to the band.  Tanner and Corey take lessons from Vincent Fults at Arthurs Music, Connor takes bass lessons from Jon E. Gee and Jillian takes voice lessons from Heather Ramsey.

Once they have mastered a song with their individual teachers, they meet as a group with Shawn, who takes what they have learned individually, tweaks it a little bit and turns them into a cohesive unit.  He stresses timing, counting, eye contact, harmonizing, and making the song sound as close to the original as possible.  The band also gets together and practices several times a month.

They love classic rock songs and ask their parents for suggestions.  Their parents download hits from the 70’s, 80’s and then study the lyrics to determine those that are appropriate for the band to learn.  The band listens to these songs and decides which ones they want to learn.  The challenging thing for them at this age is that with each new song, comes something new about music they must also learn.  To date they have mastered close to 30 songs.  They plan to soon begin writing their own and throwing them into the mix too!  Not only do they like classic rock songs, they have also read and studied the history of the bands themselves.  It may seem odd, but one of the most important lessons they have learned in reading about the bands is what to stay away from.  They don’t like to play to loud, they like for their fans to be able to make out their words, and they have sworn off drugs.  Their music teachers also constantly stress the importance of staying away from the not so good side of being in a band. 

Since early 2008, “the boys of R and one Girl” have made over 50 appearances.  It has all happened by "word of mouth". They hope someday soon to return the favor and ask The Don Stuck Band to open for them!  Their parents have no idea where all of this will take them.  But they do know that learning to play music and the discipline it takes to be good at it, has been proven to help students excel in the classroom.  They have also overcome their fear of performing and singing in front of an audience, which has helped them tremendously with their self confidence.  Rock on!!