Tim Emmons grew up in a home filled with music.  His parents would often sing to one another and set the stage for Tim’s interest and passion.  Tim’s first instrument was a   garage sale guitar.  It was actually given to his older brother, Bill, to play but whenever Bill wasn’t around, Tim could be found tuning the strings in an open chord fashion and playing that thing like a slide guitar, using his thumb as the slide.

Soon after that Tim formed his first group with neighborhood kids who had instruments: Kathy on piano, Franny on drums, Tim on guitar, Kevin on vocals.  (Kevin was a little deaf, but we didn’t know it at the time).  Tim wrote his first tune: “My Mama Told Me” which was about parental controls and childhood rebellion.  It was very forgettable.  Tim could be heard playing inverted garbage pails in the backyard to whatever was playing on the radio at the time, Jose Feliciano, the Doors, Humble Pie, whatever. Soon the neighbors were taking notice that the little crew cut kid in the backyard was actually keeping time with the airplay. They could be overheard saying things like, "What a racket!" and "Is he going to do that every night?"

So it was inevitable that Mom and Dad decided to sign Tim up for some "book learning” music lessons.  He began taking piano lessons from the good Sisters of the Immaculate Heart at St. Johns' School.  Money runs tight in a large family and after a year they couldn't afford to send Tim anymore.  So one of the Sisters offered to continue teaching him for free, because she saw some talent there and "God does not want talent wasted!"

Tim was in one garage band after another, playing anywhere there was an audience, or a hat. He moved to Connecticut and in 1982 hooked up with a group of hungry and talented rock and rollers called Legend.  Soon they were playing every club from Stafford to Danbury to full houses. Two of the premier bands in CT, "Arizona Maid" and "Fountain Head" started to ask the Legend boys to open shows for them in NH, Maine, and Massachusetts. Soon the band was working 5 nights a week and headed for more. Meanwhile, Tim's new wife Lorraine and he had started a family and with the added mouths to feed, it seemed like Rock and Roll in other states on the weeknights, a full time job, and a family were becoming incompatible. In 1995, he left the band to groans from the bass player that he still hears today. Sorry, Brett. Hope you understand now.

Tim and Lorraine and kids left CT and headed back to NY in 1989.  It was good to be home.   Tim started playing again with some great local players in a band called Tom Foolery. (Love that name). Once again the band got popular and started playing a lot, but like all bands, there were differences of opinion.  Tim left that band, grabbed the bass player, Paul and guitarist, Kenny, to form a new band called "Out of Hand Acoustic Band" adding a percussionist, Griff, playing a lot of folk and folk rock contemporary tunes. It magically coincided with the "unplugged" phenom of the early 90's and struck a chord with the public... (Ouch bad pun). We had a lot of laughs and good times. After 2 years of gigs and a lot of fun, Paul and Griff were off to find peace and love, leaving us with a couple of open spots.

Enter Tom Dimock and Frank Ferris to the rescue. Fresh out the Friends band, they were polished musicians and ready to start working right away. What a blast we had. The addition of fiddle and drums to our sound and the rich baritone of Tom's vocals filled a void we didn't know existed. Lorraine had joined the band too and we were rich with vocals. What a sound! The band got a lot better and we did what bands do: PLAY.

Soon, Lorraine went back home to the kids, and the band ran it's course, leading into a reformed version of the Friends Band with Jim Hull, Frank Ferris, Doug Gonzalez, Tom Dimock and Tim Emmons. This lineup lasted for a couple of years until a brief breakup when Tim and Tom left.

Well, some things are just too good to let die, so the boys got together again with a smaller version of the great vocal band that we call Old Friends. Jim Hull's legendary lead vocals are featured, along with Tom's Fiddle and sultry baritone, and Tim's keys and soaring tenor notes.

“Edith, where’s my dinner?”

If Friends is in the name, you just got to have Jim and Tom there. Along with Tim, the three of them are truly Older and Wiser Friends, and are having way too much fun. Come see what tightly wound vocals sound like with a layer of sweet Taylor guitars and plenty of keyboard underpinnings holding down the rhythm.

If you are looking for a night out to dance, sing along, or just listen to musical storytelling – we’ve got you covered.