Monroe Street Band

Monroe Street Band 2009 at SMR Festival

  The multi-instrumentalists Jane and Gordon Scott form the nucleus of the Bluegrass band the Monroe Street Band. The band is an outgrowth of their music business Gordon’s String Music and has always had students or music associates as a part of the band. Jane is a former public school music teacher who found the traditional fiddling styles of Irish, old-time, and Bluegrass compelling. She formerly taught the Irish Ensemble at FSU for seven years and currently teaches private fiddle, piano, mandolin, and guitar lessons through the music store in Tallahassee. Gordon began playing Bluegrass music in Kentucky playing with J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys in Lexington, KY. When Gordon came to Tallahassee in the ‘70’s he formed a band with friends called the Big Bend Ramblers that played local festivals in Florida and Georgia for over twenty-five years. He teaches about anything with strings at Gordon’s String Music and plays harmonica and the Irish button accordion as well. Drew Leslie, a former student of Gordon’s, has been playing guitar with the Monroe Street Band for the past six years. Devon Wiseman, originally from North Carolina, played banjo with the band while in Tallahassee to attend FSU and graduated in 2010. Mike Snelling has played bass with the Monroe Street Band since its inception as well as playing other musical engagements with Jane and Gordon over the years. Jane Scott plays fiddle and sings back-up vocals with Gordon Scott singing the lead and playing mandolin with the band. The couple hosts an Irish session at Finnegan’s Wake on 5th Avenue the fourth Sunday of each month. They also play with Drew Leslie in an old-time band called the Greasy String Band that plays for contra dances around the state. Jane and Gordon won the band contest as the Backdoor Lost Band at the Florida Fiddlers Convention in 2010 with Roger Eudy on guitar. The Greasy String Band plays for contra dances several times a year at the Senior Citizens Center on North Monroe Street in Tallahassee.  

Monroe Street Band Photo by Len Adams