Bobby Steeno

Bob plays a 1974 Martin D-35 and a 2003 Gibson Flatiron Master Model Mandolin, along with harmonica and bass. His musical past is quite diverse but began, at the age of 13, in a garage up north in Niagara WI. with Bobby Raboin and Gary Richard. The band was called "The Red Line" complete with white pants and red and navy striped shirts ( see photo page for a blast from the past). They played covers from the 1960's and won the coveted battle of the bands in Iron Mountain, MI in 1965. The next music stint Bob went the route of Bob Dylan covers and played at The Beer Garden in Fort Walton Beach, FL. Somewhere in the 70's he met up with Potter Brown  and acquired a Framus cut away bass fiddle and the Old Truck Bluegrass band was formed with members Bill Indy, Bob Reese, Potter Brown and Bob Steeno.  Bluegrass was the favored music until 1980 when after moving up north and there being no bluegrass musicians around he formed and played with The Great Northern Iron Band. It started out all acoustic with Bob on the bass, Scott Furlow on piano, Dave Ward on percussion and Jeff Cowell on guitar. From this band an electric band called the Hard Traveling Band was formed with Bob on a Fender Precision electric bass, Scot Furlow on piano,  Bob Raboin on guitar and Bill Kauper on drums. This band played for four years and ended playing mostly Beatle covers and finally dissolved as no one lived in the same town. The next 20 years were spent playing in bluegrass bands, Seldom Sober, Fox River Flyer, and eventually The Sparetime Bluegrass Band out of Madison, WI ( see photo page and links page). He hosted a bluegrass jam and open mike for 3 years and started At The Kitchen Table at the Copper Grid and played with many great musicians in and around WI. But the old Bob Dylan and the 60's songs lurked and kept popping out around the bluegrass. So today Bob has evolved into a musician with a wide array of styles including Dylan, Young, Prine, Stones, Beatles, Kinks, Kingston Trio, Clapton, Hendrix and 30 - 40 self penned songs which he has recorded and performs.

Bands Bob has played in include but are not limited to the following:

The Red Line; Hope; The Hard Travelin Band; Rollies Ramblers; Seldom Sober; Fox River Flyer; Great Northern Iron Band; Too Tall And The Saddlesores; Down From The Hills; The SpareTime Bluegrass Band; The Point Washington String Band; The Old Truck Bluegrass Band; Bob Steeno's Electric Band and currently The Steenos.

Lisa Steeno

Lisa grew up learning classical piano from her mother Ellen Wallenfang who gave piano lessons in their home. She accompanied soloists, choirs and played at church and for weddings in the Niagara WI area. At the University of Wisconsin  - Oshkosh  she studied piano and pipe organ under her cousin Jo Ann Hess and completed a minor in music. Somewhere in the middle of a nursing career and raising a family she started playing the stand up bass at bluegrass jams. This evolved into playing as a substitute bass player in multiple bluegrass bands in the Madison area and eventually becoming a member of The SpareTime Bluegrass Band and  The Bluegrass Orphans. Because multiple girlfriends wanted to play bass and most Saturday nights were spent picking around the kitchen table she acquired and learned to play her Martin D-18 Vintage guitar. She currently accompanies her husband Bob when he plays mandolin. Her current music involvement is a husband and wife duet called The Steenos with an ever increasing cast of characters and evolving musical styles which encompass old hippie music, Bob's originals and bluegrass, or as we like to call it, acoustic hash.

Bands Lisa has played in include but are not limited to the following:

Down From The Hills; The Bluegrass Orphans; Girl Grass; The SpareTime Bluegrass Band; Kevin Tubb's All Star Band; Bob Steeno's Electric Band; The Point Washington String Band, and currently with The Steenos.

Franko Washboard Jackson

Born in Oklahoma in 1950, Franko Jackson's family moved to Atlanta GA when he was three. He spent his childhood listening to his mother playing her hot pink upright piano. She also played a comb with cellophane around it as a wind instrument. The family moved back to Oklahoma City and, as soon as he was old enough, Franko moved to the country.

  In the Ozarks he heard the Jug, Jook, and Washboard Band LP: Music made without formal training on homemade instruments. That experience changed his life.He took up the washboard and moved to New Orleans. There he found and ad in the Times Picayune for:

Washboard Player Wanted: Non-Professional Only.

He was surprised when he was the only one to show up. Washboard Jackson joined the The Bad Oyster Band that played irregular gigs all over the crescent city  and still does. During that time he sat in with Professor Longhair, the single greatest influence on his music.

Playing the streets in the French Quarter, he met musicians from New York who formed Washboard Jackson and the Hot Damn Jug Band in 1979. They were a featured act for the entire run of the New Orleans World’s Fair of 1984. Each June, Washboard travels to upstate New York for a reunion with these musicians and many more to play the Ithaca Festival as the Gourmet Jugband.

In 1985 he moved to Florida with his wife, Eileen, to finish raising the children. He began playing with a pickup band at Docie’s Dock in Ft Walton Beach. He and Bill Garrett formed Willy and the Wahoos, and played festivals and bars up and down the coast.

  Moving to South Walton County, FL in 1989, he and Garrett talked Duke Bardwell out of retirement and formed the local favorite electric blues band: HUBBA HUBBA with Doug Dickerson and Greg Guthre. Check local listings and hear Hubba Hubba on Washboard's CD.