The String Gents
Biography
The Sting Gents are a recently formed acoustic duo, comprising fingerstyle guitarist / singer-songwriter Roger Schmidt and fiddle / mandolin player and singer Shane Guse. Both Roger and Shane are from the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario, Canada and became acquainted through their connection with Stonebridge Guitars & Mandolins. It didn't take much more than a few friendly jam sessions for them to realize that their styles and musical interests could easily gel.
Soon after, they decided to form the duo and get down to writing and arranging repertoire for a recording project, which they hope to complete in the very near future. They are already booking gigs and plan to take their music live on a regular basis.
Nominated in both 2007 and 2008 by the Canadian Country Music Association for “Fiddle Player of the Year”, Shane is in demand as both a touring and session musician. He has appeared on the Canadian Country Music Awards, numerous videos and specials on CMT, CBC, Breakfast Television and Canada AM. Currently playing with two-time Juno winner and multiple CCMA award winner George Canyon, he has also toured and recorded with Jason McCoy, Jason Blaine, Aaron Pritchett, Jessie Farrell, Colin James, Deric Ruttan, The Wilkinson’s, Chris Cummings, LACE, John Landry and many other award winning Canadian recording artists. Shane has also travelled the world with Royal Caribbean International and Holland America Line as part of headline guest artists The Guse’s and has been a featured artist at Drayton Festival Theatre Canada.
Recently, Shane accepted an offer from Stonebridge Instruments to officially endorse their new mandolins. You may have also seen him doing clinics and demonstrations for Wood Violins of NYC with their revolutionary 7-string Viper violins or teaching the improvisation course he designed and taught at Conestoga College.
Roger Schmidt is a singer-songwriter and fingerstyle guitarist, who is entirely self taught. He was born and raised in the Laurention Mountains of Quebec, where he was exposed to French Canadian roots music as well as the other main steam influences of the day. In his late teens, he became a big fan of Bruce Cockburn, whose music inspired the acoustic direction he would ultimately take. Roger is now involved with Stonebridge Guitars and has had the chance to share the stage with the likes of The international Guitar Night, Dave Gunning, Richard Smith, Antoine Dufour and more.
The String Gents web site
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