Singer-songwriter Ginny Johnston has a varied musical background, having earned her Masters degree in classical composition and clarinet performance. However, Ginny grew up listening to singer-songwriters of the early 1970’s, and inspired by them, started writing songs on the piano before she was ten years old. A member of two all-girl folk/rock bands during high school, she continued to write songs in collaboration with friends Gretchen Hill and Kim Kadota. Ginny’s musical influences grew to include Broadway, jazz, and straight-ahead rock.

In 1990, along with friends Hill, Kadota and guitarist/bassist Jeff Guenther, she produced a recording of six original songs called Janus...arising from sullen earth. After a break to finish school and focus on her classical music endeavors, Ginny hit the open-mic scene in 1993 with friends Shelley Ginsberg and Don Bowen. Along the way, she got reacquainted with drummer Dan DeRienzo, with whom she attended high school, and with a jazz pianist named Dan Crisci (who is now her husband and frequent musical collaborator!) 1993 also marked the year her first indie CD, Scrapbook, was recorded and released. The recording features songs by Ginny written on her own and in collaboration with lyricists Gretchen Hill, Kim Kadota and Shelley Ginsberg. The band, Mosaic, evolved after this recording to include Don Bowen, Dan DeRienzo and in 1994, bassist Bob Funesti. With the release of the True CD in 1999, Ginny’s growth as a songwriter is evidenced by the fact that 10 of the 13 songs were written solely by her.

Currently, Ginny’s other musical activities include conducting the Triad Chamber Vocal Ensemble, composing contemporary instrumental and choral music and performing as a free-lance clarinetist in the NJ/NYC area. She cites numerous songwriters as influences (whose songs she also covers) including Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Shawn Colvin, Sarah McLaughlan, Indigo Girls, Dan Fogelberg and the Beatles. Ginny performs on a Kurzweil PC 88 electronic keyboard when acoustic piano is not available.

Guitarist, banjo-player and vocalist Don Bowen has musical influences that include his Dad’s jam parties, his brothers’ jug bands, Woodstock (his oldest brother attended), Pennsylvania coffeehouses and the country-rock bands of the 1970’s. He first learned how to pick the banjo as a teen and then added the guitar to his instrumental repertoire in high school. Don has played with various duos and groups since his college days and hooked up with Ginny Johnston on the open-mic scene in 1993. He currently performs on a Gibson 6-string acoustic and 5-string banjo, a Seagull 12-string acoustic, and a Parker Fly electric guitar. He uses a BOSS GT-5 guitar effects processor and Shure microphones. Don is an acoustician with AT&T Labs and has several audio patents to his credit.

Percussionist Dan DeRienzo has been playing drums since the age of seven.  His professional career began at age 15, and included gigs in jazz, rock and big band, at various schools, clubs and pageants.  He then moved on to playing colleges, rock clubs, bars, restaurants and recording in studios along the East coast and in the panhandle.  In 1990, he performed in country bands at venues along the Arizona caravan circuit.  Dan is also an ethnic drummer, performing on East Indian tabla, Arabic ceramic doumbek, and Native American Taos drums.

Bassist Bob Funesti plays both acoustic and electric basses. He studied under Greg Cohen, Harvie Swartz, and Mike Richmond. He has performed extensively with many different musical groups in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area, including gigs at Trumpets in Montclair, NJ, Shanghai Jazz in Madison, NJ, The Watchung Arts Center, and Birdland in NYC.  Bob uses a Pedulla 5-string Thunderbass. His acoustic is a circa 1896 German bass. He uses a Walter Woods Hi-Power Mono Dual Channel amplifier, running through an Euphonic Audio VL-110 cab. He also uses a Peavey TNT-150 combo amp.