In third grade Cindy’s music teacher had four students in his class. He said, “Hey, if one of you wants to play viola we could have a string quartet!”.
Cindy asked, “What’s a viola?” Her teacher said, “Oh, your hands are perfect for the instrument.” Cindy’s musical journey with her beloved viola had begun.
She played in the orchestra from third grade through her college years at Colorado State, later joining the local chamber orchestra in Logan, Utah. She met many musicians in Logan and was introduced to contra dance music when she was asked to play in Tatterjack, the local contra dance band.
While playing in Tatterjack she met Eric. She asked him out for a drink at the local pub after their first gig together and they’ve been together ever since.
Cindy gave up one of Logan’s finest folk bands ever – A Rage of Maidens — to follow Eric to the Navajo Nation, where he had accepted a position at Chinle (Arizona)  High School as the music teacher.

In Chinle they created their next band, The Chainsaw Bears, which became a popular folk and bluegrass quartet locally. They were asked to perform Cindy’s unique songs about the Navajo at the Tucson Folk Festival, and were also voted the favorite band of the Tsaile Public School’s 8th grade class — which invited the Chainsaw Bears to perform at the school.


While in Chinle, Cindy saw one service lacking on the Navajo Reservation was animal care. With over a quarter million stray dogs wandering an area the size of West Virginia she became involved in helping them one at a time. She became aware of a dog foster network and joined the community. Eventually she became the president of the Blackhat Humane Society (www.blackhathumane.org) and continues connecting dogs and a few cats with their “forever” homes across the country.


Eric’s musical journey really started out in radio and music promotion. In college at Washington State University he volunteered as a disc jockey for the student radio station. That stint got him involved in the student concert promotion committee. The committee chose and promoted national touring acts to the school (Rodney Dangerfield, Bonnie Raitt, Al Jarreau, Kenny G …). He became involved in promoting his own concerts (Robert Cray, John Hammond Jr. …). Eventually he moved to Boulder, Colorado where his roommate Vince Herman (Leftover Salmon) told him “You know Swanny, you’re the only one I know who picks, but doesn’t pick!”


Little did he know Vince was right: Eric was a musician who did not play music! He bought his first guitar at age 30 and has not stopped playing and teaching music for the last 35 years. His first band was The Great Swanny Orchestra, a fun jam band of Boulder musicians from many bands and styles including members of Yonder Mountain String Band, The Zukes of Zydeco, Leftover Salmon, and several others.


Eric has played in many Americana-type bands over the years and is now playing with Nuages Du Desert — Clouds of the Desert in English. Nuages (www.nuagesdurango.com) plays “hot jazz” dance music around Durango and has been invited to the Santa Fe Trad fest the last two years  (https://www.santafetradfest.org/)

Today Swanny and Pea play out on occasion for house parties, local pubs and coffee houses. If you enjoy their sound please contact them about playing for you!