The song "Strange Woods" came first, and then it became the band name.

We do, and we love playing house concerts and concerts in parks where people can bring picnics and family, and enjoy the outdoors while listening to good music.

With the advent of mp3s on the Internet, more people can find the music that they love, or even simply explore new types of music. Hopefully more people will be able to find our music as well.

Never say never, but it depends on quite a few variables.

The Strange Woods is a quartet of four accomplished musicians playing original compositions rooted in a broad range of folk styles hailing from The British Isles, India, Israel, Spain and France; and featuring lively instrumental pieces woven throughout - including jigs, reels, polkas, hornpipes, and gypsy melodies. Their beautifully rich vocals, coupled with powerful and sublime instrumentation, is backed by a finely layered texture of 'World Beat' and 'Impressionist' style rhythms. The Strange Woods music is replete with lyrics of love and compassion, or based on legendary themes inspiring the heart and imagination. With Celtic music at the heart of their creation, together with the varied elements of other folk styles as inspiration, their unique sound can best be described as ?Celtic Fusion?.

The band consists of Theresa Rochelle-Ross, the band?s featured vocalist, whose multifaceted voice easily dances over a wide range of notes ? being at times dramatically powerful or lilting with a pure, ethereal grace. She plays elegantly on the pennywhistle, recorder, Celtic folk-harp, bodhran, conga, and dumbek. Her brother, Patrick Espinoza, a superb keyboardist and vocalist, also gives sensitive accompaniment on guitar and various percussion instruments, and skillfully intones a haunting magic with didgeridoo. The very talented Rachel Amov, performs with precision on violin, viola and mandolin in a delightfully energetic fashion, sweetly entwined with her mysterious and mystical gypsy flair. Jim Hinton, the band's leader and composer of most of the their original music, offers a unique finger picking style on six and twelve-string guitars, as well as complex work on mandocello, banjo, harmonica, and keyboard. With his mellow baritone voice he masterfully guides the audience through the varied stories of their performance while filling out the band's harmony sound.

Jim and Theresa began this musical venture back in 1975. Jim had been performing in San Diego since 1970, but it was the lure of the San Francisco music scene that really started them on their way as they followed their gypsy hearts with then fellow band mates, Paul Espinoza and Margie Butler (of Golden Bough).They returned to San Diego a couple years later to pursue their vision as a duo, developing their skills through several incarnations and broadening band formations, finally settling on the right combination with Patrick and Rachel about 12 years ago. Over the past 30some years the Strange Woods have played their way through Irish pubs, coffeehouses, festivals, schools, and community concert halls all over the western states.

The Strange Woods have several recordings on CD available for sale including their newest releases, "A Light On The Path", and Jim's own collection entitled, "Love Like An Ocean". This band plays the music they love, delivering it straight from the heart. After all these years, they're still having a great time performing together, and continue to produce a memorable, musical experience for audiences of all ages.

This is hard to fill out as our influences are quite varied! Dylan, Donovan, The Incredible String Band, Robin Williamson, Jean Redpath, Pentangle, Steeleye Span, The Chieftains, Clannad, Loreena McKennit, Enya, Swami Nirvanananda, and many more.

As a whole band? I think at least most of us like the beach.

Mackie soundboards, Shure microphones, Rachel has FBT speakers and a couple of JBLs, the band has Yamaha speakers as well.

The Strange Woods is the core group, the main deal, but within the Woods we are all working on other projects in various combinations as well. Jim is doing solo stuff (with Patrick and other friends sometimes), Theresa and Rachel are playing some duo stuff, and Patrick has been playing as a trio with Theresa and Rachel as well. So please stay tuned to our various combinations and different projects as well. We have several websites, the two most up-to-date are www.strangewoods.com and www.jimhinton.com but eventually each band member will have a site and maybe we'll perform under some other names...everything will be easy to find from The Strange Woods website though!