That's Pete Gallant above on the mandolin. Pete does it all and with gusto, researching songs, singing leads and harmonies and keeping the music real. If you want to know anything about bluegrass, just ask Pete.

OUR SOUND:
Our official name is A Bluegrass Invitation Band and like our name we have expanded and moved in new directions over the years since being established in the spring of 2006.
Today we have a unique style consisting of classic Bill Monroe-style bluegrass mixed with more complex and current acoustic music such as is heard in the music of the Avett Brothers and Michael Cleveland. Our musical arrangements have developed a greater depth to go along with expanded vocal harmonies. 

OUR HISTORY:
Since the spring of 2006, we have played at many different types of venues from the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge to the Onset Summer Music Series at the Band Shell in Onset. We have performed at wedding receptions in Newport, and Little Compton, Rhode Island, as well as Rockport, New Bedford, Westport and Pocasset in Massachusetts. We have performed several times at The Bay Club in Mattapoisett, Westport Rivers Vineyards in Westport, and Sweetberry Farm in Middletown, RI. We have played at graduation and birthday parties, pig roasts, and annual Southeastern MA and Rhode Island bluegrass festivals such as Bluegrass on the Bogs and Young Family Farm Harvest Festival. And we play each summer on Sundays at the Cup of the Bay Restaurant in Onset MA on Cape Cod. Finally, we have recorded original music for the benefit of the Children's Advocacy Center of Bristol County (MA). That CD is entitled Hope In Our Hands. ( For a closer look at the details of our past performances please see our OLD BUSINESS page).

OUR BACKGROUNDS:

• Charlie Santos (Tiverton, RI) has played guitar, bass, harmonica and banjo with the Frenchtown Barn Dance Band, out of North Kingstown Rhode Island before forming Bluegrass Invitation in the Spring of 2006. 
• Pete Gallant (New Bedford, MA) plays mandolin, guitar, bouzouki and fiddle and sings tenor lead vocals in that high and lonesome style associated with bluegrass. Pete has been featured in several successful bluegrass bands, most currently Empty Pockets.
• Frank Bouchard (Dartmouth Ma)  has played Celtic and popular tunes at various venues as a member of a duet called the O'Liam Brothers. He brings energy and experience to the band as well as strong lead guitar and banjo picking styles, as well as lead vocals and harmonies.
• Joel Greene (Bristol, RI) brings his multiple talents including vocal leads and harmonies to A Bluegrass Invitation Band.  Joel has just completed his second CD with the group Dark and Stormy and brings us an impressive performance background with all manners of acoustic instruments including violin, viola, guitar, mandolin and bass, just to name a few.
  
  At this time we are booking parties, weddings, barbecues, restaurants, taverns, pig roasts, barn dances and music festivals throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. To paraphrase a movie star:: "We're not cheap but we can be had!"......... Michael Douglas in Romancing The Stone
  
  We get emails from all over the world from people looking for more information about us and bluegrass music in general. Why not send us your email and let us get to know you? You are invited to write us below! We promise to get back to you! (To contact Charlie by phone call  508 942 4785 (Cell) 401 624 9517 (Home) or email me at cwsantos@hotmail.com  or use the convenient form below: