Jon Gram

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Jon Gram showed an affinity for musical performance at an early age. Capping a four-year tenure as a chorister with Evanston Illinois' St. Luke's Church men and boys choir, Jon spent a summer with the Berkshire Boys Choir on the East Coast. Immediately following this intense singing experience, Leonard Berstein chose him to perform as a soloist in his epic work Mass, which was written for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Jon was twelve years old. The following year, in April 1972, he appeared on the cover of the Evanston Review as a featured soloist, performing with the North Shore Choral Society.

Jon went on to study music and graduate from Southern Illinois University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. There he studied jazz and classical guitar and keyboard. While attending school, he and a group of aspiring musicians formed what went on to become one of the Midwest's favorite bands, Uncle Jon's Band. Jon remained with UJB as lead singer, guitarist and composer for thirteen years (1981-1994), before leaving the band to pursue a solo career. While with UJB, Jon wrote ten of the eleven songs on a CD that the band produced, which went on to sell thousands of copies in five states.

Jon now performs in the Chicagoland area as a soloist as well as with his new band, Jack Straw. Jon's solo repertoire includes his original compositions tastefully mixed with his favorite cover versions of various classic popular artists such as the Beatles, Squeeze, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, The Grateful Dead, The Who, The Allman Brothers, Warren Zevon and more. Jack Straw features the music of Phish, the Grateful Dead, Jon's originals, and others.

Barry Brown

Keyboardist and vocalist Barry Brown has been performing in Chicago since 1994, much of that time with an acoustic band called Tastes Like Chicken, in various clubs and parties around the Lincoln Park neighborhood. An avid music a-Phish-ianado, Barry witnessed his first Phish show in 1992 and has never been the same since. His knowledge of and love for this music are infectious!

Ryan Churchill

Hailing from Northwest Indiana, bassist and vocalist Ryan Churchill has been playing music since the late 1980's and performing in front of audiences since 1995. A bassoonist in high school orchestra, he went on to study audio engineering at Columbia College Chicago and later worked at Chicago's well known Steppenwolf and Lookinglass Theatre as a sound effects guy. In the early Nineties, he discovered the legacy of The Grateful Dead, as well as Phish and other jam bands that were emerging into the spotlight at the time. Meanwhile, Ryan has been singing, playing guitar, and bass in least a half dozen working bands all the while, notably an eight month stint with Hack'n'Wheeze, back in 2005. In 2009, he sat in with Jon, Barry and friends and shortly afterward became a full time band member.