The Palm Wine Boys

Bringing the sensibilities of highlife, sokous, and township jive to a more mellow format.

Acoustic, folk, and west African palm wine music all come together to make up the mellow rhythmic sound of the Palm Wine Boys. With their intertwining guitars, simple catchy rhythms, and harmonizing voices, this group brings the audience something to sit back and enjoy while letting their feet tap on the floor.

Tom Chandler : After graduating from the Berklee College of Music in 1992, Tom moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and began exploring African guitar styles in search of music with heart, as opposed to academia. He has since performed and recorded extensively with a variety of ensembles, from the Palm Wine Boys and its precursor Mud Hut to his own jazz groups. He also plays oud (Arabic lute) and has studied with Nubian master Hamza El Din, performed throughout the Western U.S. with Turkish musician Latif Bolat, and performs and composes for the medieval fusion group Heliotrope. Recently, he also composed and recorded the soundtrack for the documentary film "Killing Tradition: the arming of Africa".

Richard Linley : Richard has been writing songs since he first picked up the guitar, influenced by such greats as Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. In the late 80's he had the great honor of playing music with S.E. Rogie, the godfather of palm wine music. It was Rogie who inspired him to want to play more in this style. Richard is a student of world music, and has studied Indian music. He was an original member and co-director of Vukani Mawethu, a choir singing South African freedom songs.

Q.B. Williams : Q.B. has written music for stage plays, TV, radio and film. He was an original member of the popular accapella group Street Sounds, and plays with his other group The Q.B. Experience.

Dylan Eliyahu Sills : known as Eliyahu, he has been deeply loving music since his birth (if not before), when on the way home from the hospital, his father lovingly sang to the newborn "No Dylan No Cry," thus introducing the young musician to the lyricism of Bob Marley. Since then, Eliyahu has studied upright bass, piano, electric bass, voice, guitar, and flute. He attended the New School of Jazz, in New York City, where he learned at the feet of three masters of the music: Reggie Workman, Arnie Lawrence, and the late Makanda Ken McIntyre. He has since become passionate about music education, finding fault in the western music conservatories with their over emphasis on the left brain, leaving out the original reasons for musical creation, such as the spiritual, the dance, the communication. Eliyahu has performed through out the U.S.A. and the Near East, in jazz ensembles, world music bands, and hip-hop groups. He loves to move people with the music: physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. He currently performs and teaches music in Oakland and San Francisco.