Jake's Leg

Deadheads in St. Louis know Jake's Leg. The band has been providing music for the scene for 50 years, playing thousands of shows to generations of like-minded fans who just wanna keep on dancin'. Maybe you've heard them in some dumpy little bar like the old Twenty North or at Busch Stadium: they've played'em all and continue to do so on a regular basis. And the band keeps growing.

Started as a duo by guitarists and vocalists Randy Furrer and Tim Fahy in 1976, lead guitarist Dave Casper soon joined the fold. Players were added and the music grew, friends came and went. Some of them had 10-year-or-longer stints with Jake's Leg, which is a long career for most non-touring rock bands. Bassist Joe Trunko came on board in 1990. Ryan Wilhite, after a short stint as percussionist, took over the drum kit in 2005. Most recently, well-seasoned St. Louis musician Bill Murphy has come on to fill the keyboard position. The sum of this is one of the longest-lasting bands in the country that plays a whole lot of your favorite songs and you'll find them playing in and around St. Louis.

It's not The Grateful Dead and it's not supposed to be. While they draw mainly on the repertoire of America's favorite psychedelic blues-rock jug band, Jake's Leg naturally bring their own sensibilities to each part. The introspective singer-songwriter, the jazz stylings of an improvising soloist, rock-solid dance grooves, mind-bending jams: all are in play at their shows. The music can take you anywhere you want to go. And with their long-term unity and very capable musicianship, Jake's Leg makes it a great-sounding trip.

What's happening at a show? Music. Joy. Love. Peace. Singing. Dancing. Good Times. Fun. While making the sound track with lots of dedication and practice, the band knows that the audience is an integral part of each show. People leave their troubles at the door and get down together in a celebration of life. The audience members come in all ages and from every background, each bringing their own energy to the experience. The band and their audience have an on-going dialogue based in their mutual love of the music. It wasn't planned, it just happened. And it's still happening after 50 years. If you're a fan of the songs of The Grateful Dead, do yourself a favor and see Jake's Leg. Your friends are there and the music never stops.

Check out this short documentary on 40 years of Jake's Leg
that aired on HEC-TV

Randy Furrer

Guitar, Vocals

Randy received his first guitar in 8th grade. In high school he met Tim Fahy and they started playing together as a duo soon after. Additional players were added over time resulting in the eventual formation of Jake's Leg in 1976. In 1981, he opened a bar named Twenty North in the St. Louis Midtown area. It quickly became a hangout for college students, hippies and music lovers, and was home to Jake's Leg every Thursday and Friday night for over 20 years. He also owned a couple other bars - Randy's at 618 for a few years in the mid-1990's and Magee's for 7 years after Twenty North closed in 1999. On playing with Jake's Leg: "I've been playing music with unbelievable musicians for 45+ years and lucky enough to do over 6500 shows with these great people. Loved every job...well, most of them!"

Dave Casper

Guitar

Dave received his first guitar at age 9 shortly after seeing and hearing the Beatles play on the Ed Sullivan Show along with countless other Americans who had the same musical awakening after seeing the show in 1964. He immediately became obsessed with the uphill climb to learn how to play. After struggling 3 or 4 years with a local teacher, he decided he needed more than a traditional "Mel Bay by the numbers" approach that was typical back in the 60's so he stopped taking formal guitar lessons and for the next 5 years he destroyed almost every record he owned by picking up and putting down the needle on the record player sometimes hundreds of times to learn a guitar solo he loved. It didn't come easy for him practicing in the basement himself but once he started playing in an actual band things changed. He started to realize how collaborating with other musicians helped his understanding of a song and the roll the guitar has in creating music.

At that time his main musical influences were all rock guitar players - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Carlos Santana. But over the next several years he discovered a much wider range of musical influences like Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Robben Ford, Miles Davis, and the indescribable Jerry Garcia. He played in 4 different bands over the next 6 years and started jamming with other musicians with different styles and influences, which started to help shape the way he sounds and plays. Then, at 21, he became part of Jake's Leg. "I'm still hard at work becoming the artist that I want to be. I can be in my car listening to almost any station on satellite radio and within 15 minutes hear something someone is playing on guitar and wish I could pull over and pick it apart and come away with every note perfectly in place, which is odd considering what Jake's Leg does on any given evening is anything but perfectly in place".

Joe Trunko

Bass, Vocals

Joe started playing the bass at age 10, partly as the result of the influence of his brother who played guitar and needed someone to jam with. The bass just seemed like a natural fit. Joe has held down the low end in Jake's Leg since 1990. He has many musical influences, from Jazz to Classical, and of course the Grateful Dead. He was exposed to the music of The Dead at an early age and something just clicked. On why he is drawn to the music of The Dead: "The music has influences from so many different types of music - blues, country, folk, psychedelic rock and jazz. While the songs stand alone as is, they also are a perfect platform for individual interpretation and can be taken to so many other musical places. There also seems to be a certain connection that occurs both between the musicians in the band, as well as between the band and the audience, that doesn't seem to happen with other types of music. It's hard to explain, but it's magical sometimes".

Ryan Wilhite

Drums, Percussion

Ryan inherited his love of music from his mother, a music lover who frequently filled the family home with the sounds of Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and other country greats on vinyl. He started playing the saxophone at age 11. Upon acquiring his first drum set at 13, he immediately set about teaching himself to play. With his headphones on, playing along to artists such as Led Zeppelin, he practiced for hours after school each day, and started playing in local bars around Illinois by the age of 17. After the first time Ryan heard Jake's Leg play - the first band he ever heard play The Grateful Dead - he was hooked on the jam/improv scene. He eventually met Lee Kram (former Jake's Leg drummer) and began playing percussion with the band in 2002. Lee moved on from the band and Ryan was asked to join full time in 2005. "Not being a trained drummer, my approach is having a 'just play' attitude. The structure is there but every other part of the music is very in the moment. Nothing pre-thought out..." Ryan is grateful for his role in the band and humbled by the experience year after year.

Bill Murphy

Keyboards, Vocals

Bill is honored to join Jake's Leg as their newest member, just in time to celebrate the bands 50th year. He began studying piano in early childhood and performed in various rock bands throughout his teens and twenties. In later years he turned his focus to jazz piano and music theory. Since the mid-1990's, Bill has performed and recorded with a diverse cross-section of St. Louis artists including Rogers & Nienhaus, 4&20 CSNY Tribute, St. Louis Social Club, Pennsylvania Slim, Cornet Chop Suey, Baker-McClaren Band, Geyer Street Sheiks, Ron Furr and Sandy Weltman's Sandroids. "Each collaboration has offered valuable experience and insight, helping me grow both as a musician and performer. I look forward to continuing that journey of learning and joyful performing, with Jake's Leg!"

Dale Ashauer

Sound Tech

Dale is an audio technician who probably spent way too much of his life listening to The Grateful Dead. He appreciates the nuances of the different periods of The Grateful Dead music and the techniques that The Dead's audio crews used to achieve those sounds. After crossing paths many times throughout the years, Jake's Leg brought him on full time in 2013 to help create a better listening experience for their fans.

David Ashauer

Sound Tech, Stage Manager

David started doing live sound in 1986 working with his brother’s band. That summer he saw The Grateful Dead for the first time and learned that the adage “There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert “, wasn’t hype, but an absolute truth. They were far and away the best sounding band he had ever heard. He continued working with Keith Morris, the drummer from his brother’s band, for the next 20 years upgrading gear and honing skills. In 2006 he was given an opportunity to be the house sound engineer at Lucas School House. At that point he had to decide if he wanted a secure future by staying at a dehumanizing job that he hated, or taking a chance on himself, and pursuing a job that he loved. He chose love, which he highly recommends. After Lucas closed he worked at various clubs including 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center. Two things that he lives by are “When in doubt, twirl”, and “The compass always points to Terrapin“.

Patrick Dufner

Crew

Patrick attended his first of over 30 Grateful Dead concerts in July of 1988 at Alpine Valley, WI. His first Jake's Leg show was in October 1989 at a Staunton Farm Party, and he's been "on the bus" ever since. Notable shows include hundreds of Jake's Leg shows between 1989 and present, and he even made a brief appearance in the 1989 Grateful Dead movie "Downhill From Here: July 17th 1989". He was in the audience for the Jerry Garcia Band recordings of "Garcia Live Vol. Thirteen: September 16th 1989", and also "Garcia Live Vol. Eight: November 23rd 1991" with Dale and Dave Ashauer. Over the past several years he's been working with Dale and Dave as part of the Ondbus sound crew.

Tim Berens

Drum Tech

Tim has been working as a drum tech and stagehand for over 20 years. He's kept the beats rolling for icons like KISS, Beyonce, Def Leppard, Pink, and Jeff Lynne, and brought the same level of precision and care to the intimate stages where artists like Snarky Puppy, Digable Planets, The Wailers, G. Love & The Special Sauce, Fortunate Youth, and Sensamotion do their most soulful work. Big arena or small club - the approach is the same every time: ready, focused, and deeply in love with the craft. A multi-instrumentalist in his own right, playing percussion, drums, and guitar, it goes far beyond the technical. He doesn't just set up a kit, he understands it. His love affair with live music goes back to 1993, when he fell headfirst into the world of the Grateful Dead. That Deadhead spirit, that reverence for the moment and the music, is woven into everything he does on and off stage. When the lights go down and the crowd goes wild, he's one of the reasons it all goes off without a hitch. "When I'm not making sure everything runs perfectly on stage, you can find me playing drums, percussion, or guitar - because the music never really stops".

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