Tin Can Fish Band started as the duo TinFish in 2006, with acoustic singer songwriter Steve Fisher and long time friend, Colonial Williamsburg tavern musician, and mandolin fiddle maestro, Doug Austin. While primarily performing Steve’s original songs, TCFB draws from a wide variety of folk, rock and roots material ranging from public domain and Bluegrass to Americana and World music, as well as works written and performed by various TCFB members.
Drummer and percussion player Jack Taggart and (Circuit Rider/Single Bullet Theory) bassist and long time musical cohort, Keith MacPhee combined with TinFish to form TIN CAN FISH BAND in 2012, and the band was off and running. Veteran Richmond guitar favorite John Leedes (King Solomon’s Marbles/Squalor Hollow Boyz/Blue Line Highway) joined TCFB in November 2013 followed by Joe Conner (Blues Cats, Blue Line Highway) on Accordion and keys in 2014 to complete the unique acoustic electric blend. Drummer and percussion player George Garrett (The Taters) replaced Jack Taggart in late 2018. After steadily performing for over five years and putting out 2 CDs, Tin Can Fish Band’s infectious spirit, engaging shows and distinctive musicianship is cultivating a strong following in central Virginia and beyond.
Doug Austin (mandolin, fiddle,and vocals) is a native Virginian. Raised in Williamsburg, VA, he spent part of his early years singing in the boys choir at Bruton Parish Church, which exposed him to lots of Bach, Handel, and early baroque music. Playing guitar throughout his teens, and listening to classic rock, he discovered live Bluegrass music in the parking lot of a mall. This changed everything. Soon after, following a diving accident, Doug picked up the mandolin which became his constant companion during his long recovery. A couple of years later, he took his mandolin chops into the Richmond based bluegrass band Virginia Rail.
Playing informally for many years, while supporting himself with various day jobs, he took the plunge in 1999, becoming a contract performer for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. To this day he plays 18th century music in the various taverns and for special events throughout the museum. One of his more unusual gigs involved providing music for a tea hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. Secret Service snipers in the surrounding trees and buildings made this a memorable, if slightly unnerving performance.
Doug has performed and recorded with various singer/song writers including Steve Fisher and Karen Trump.
He is a founding member of Soy Hero, the Williamsburg based Runaway String Band, and the Richmond Celtic/Americana band, Tinkers Dam. He was also a member of the RVA group Blue Line Highway.
Doug has lived for the last 25 years in an old house on rolling farmland in King and Queen County, raising crops, a family, and enjoying the countryside when not on the road for a gig. An early musical mentor once told him “whenever possible, play with musicians who are better than you”. He took these words to heart, and has had the good fortune to play with many fine musicians like his fellow band mates in TIN CAN FISH BAND.
Steve Fisher ( lead vocals and acoustic guitar) has been talking back to the television since he was a kid sitting on the floor of his grandmother’s house in Tuskeegee, Alabama. While still a youngun’, Steve and his brother were shuttled around the South between parents living in small towns, hotels and boarding houses. He picked up the guitar as a teenager in Richmond, Virginia and began writing songs soon thereafter.
Steve’s acoustic folk rock manifests a touch of irony and sarcasm while championing the underdog. His poetic style expresses his keen interest in southern americana and he enjoys finding humor in the absurd and struggle of everyday life. He has been writing and performing his songs both solo and in bands since his days at the University of Virginia. Steve has toured the East Coast and Europe playing his songs and has been in groups based in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Grayton Beach Florida and currently calls Richmond, Virginia home. He has opened for a wide variety of bands including Natalie Merchant and Ten Thousand Maniacs, Modern English, The Dickies, The Slickie Boys, REO Speed Wagon, and Fog Hat. Steve was cofounder of the band Ten Ten/ Chrysalis UK and more recently The Circuit Riders/Planetary Records with TCFB bassist Keith Macphee.
Steve was presented the Virginia Organization of Composers and Lyricists (V.O.C.A.L.) Lyricist of the Year Award and the Recording Artist of the Year Award for his original songs featured on the CD, Richmond Local 641. Several of his songs were featured on the first two Floating Folk Festival CDs released by Planetary Records. He also spearheaded the release of two CDs, Deed of Trust and Sun Moon Mule with his band The Circuit Riders. Steve released his first solo album in 2006, Broken Land Parkway, recorded live in studio with Doug Austin and chosen as pick of the month by the Chicago based site BuzzFlash.com in July, 2006. Two other solo albums have been released since 2006, Nothing But Hope (Playground Records 2010) and the recent Holding Back The Sea (2019) recorded at Minimum Wage Studio in Richmond.
Several of Steve’s songs have received extensive airplay in the U.S. and Europe. Combining various acoustic and electric elements from genres as diverse as bluegrass, folk rock, and zydeco, Tin Can Fish Band can now be heard playing many of Steve’s songs and many others from the band’s shared catalogue. Steve ‘s song catalogue and publishing is with BMI/TinFish.
Keith Macphee (bass and vocals) was born in Oceanside, New York and grew up in New Jersey and upstate New York. He moved to Richmond in the late 70’s and fell in with Single Bullet Theory and toured the east coast until 1981. Keith joined the Bow Ties in the early 80’s and gigged around Richmond for several years. Other popular bands included Joe America 1991-94 and Grumbledog 1996-98. Big hearted Keith cofounded the Circuit Riders with Steve Fisher in 1998, lending them his soulful stage presence while recording and engineering two CD projects (Deed of Trust and Sun Moon Mule) for Planetary Records.
Keith has been a true stalwart in the Richmond music scene for many years and continues to entertain audiences far and wide. He and Steve have co-written several songs and have collaborated together as bandmates in the Circuit Riders and in the recording studio since 1998. Keith teamed up with Doug and Steve in the fall of 2012 for some acoustic gigs, and the full fledged Tin Can Fish Band was born in 2013 with the addition of Jack Taggart on drums and John Leedes on lead guitar.
John Leedes (electric and acoustic guitars)moved to Richmond from Philly in 1973, just in time for first grade, and has played in many local bands since then. His first band was in middle school and played covers of The Who, The Beatles, and Kiss and also John’s first original song, “Live A Little.” The band was called Chaos but renamed The Illusion when it was learned that another band in town already had that moniker. In high school John played in a band with Dave Schools of Widespread Panic fame. That ensemble’s name is a little too vulgar to be printed here, and John still maintains he did not know the meaning of the name at the tender age of 15.
After high school, John played everything from long spacey jams to edgy pop. Bands included The Flipside, Swahili River Brothers, Left Exit, Ray Band and the Shades, Mr. Soul, Thelma Shook, Whistler’s Mother, The Reaction, Harrison Deane Band, King Solomon’s Marbles, Squalor Hollow Boyz, Sister Sweet, Gary Gerloff, Blue Line Highway and the Bart Chucker Band. He has also has added his guitar prowess to the mix of Richmond favorites Amy Henderson, Dave Pollard, Wendy Pace, and The Trongone band. Over the years, John has been fortunate enough to share the bill with Matt Guitar Murphy, Little Feat, Rick Derringer, NRBQ, J. Geils, Melvin Seals, Donna Godchaux MacKay, and the David Nelson Band. John joined Tin Can Fish Band in November 2013.
Joe Conner (accordion and assorted keyboards) has been playing around Richmond for many years in such noteworthy bands as King Solomon’s Marbles, Blues Cats and Blue Line Highway. Man of few words – Joe is a great example of “still waters run deep” and his humble, positive vibe is much appreciated by his band mates and fans!
Joe joined TIN CAN FISH BAND in December, 2014 (just in time for the first CD project in spring of 2015). His distinctive accordion style is an important recognizable element of the TCFB sound and gives the band some funky gulf coast spice! Joe also contributed some great piano tracks to the CD and will be doing even more in the future. Thanks Joe!
George Garrett (drums, percussion ) was born in Selma, Alabama and moved to Virginia in ’71.
George was always interested in visual arts and started playing music in art school while attending VCU in ’79. His first band was a rockabilly outfit called Shake and the Drakes followed by Club Zomby (new wave), and Big Posse (cow punk). George started the Burnt Taters in 99 with Craig Evans and Brad Tucker. The Burnt Tater’s first album, which received acclaim in Billboard magazine, was recorded in George’s garage and mixed on his home stereo. He was instrumental in the design build of Slipped Disc studio in Ashland with acclaimed engineer Bill Mcelroy. He also installed and ran the sound system at Ashland Coffee and Tea for numerous shows starting in 2000 including Janis Ian, Rodney Crowell, David Lindley, Darrell Scott, and numerous other internationally touring musicians. George started the Rock and Roll Jubilee in ’09 which has become an annual Richmond institution. He currently lives outside “the center of the universe” in Ashland with Kay, Pete and Krupa. George is also an accomplished woodworker and instrument maker and his ukes are available locally in Richmond, and his stave snares can be heard in Tin Can Fish Band.
