Crystal Boutelle—Vocals/Bass/Flute

I’ve had a deep passion for music since I was a kid, and my path to becoming a musician was a touch unconventional. At the age of nine I worked as a janitor at a ranger station in the Sierra foothills, and every Wednesday and Sunday night while we were vacuuming and scrubbing toilets, I harmonized with incredible singers like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Prince. I learned everything I know about singing from them, and to this day, my biggest musical thrills come from singing in harmony with others.

I eventually graduated from janitor to music teacher, and as a vocalist, bassist and flute player, I’ve been a part of bands ranging from the acoustic duo After Eights to the 11-piece Sacramento power horn outfit On Air. Right now you can also hear me holding down bass and vocals with Truckee’s Steel Sparrows, a 5-piece, all-female, all-mom rock, pop, folk and blues band.

Michael Loomis—Electric/Acoustic/Slide Guitars

It gets confusing with all the Mikes in Dark Horse, so you can just call me Loomis like the rest of the band does.  Guitar player here (including 12-string and slide) for many moons.  

I hail from the US heartland (Ohio), but landed in Lake Tahoe’s north shore in the late 70’s to rock out for several years as a member of the Warren Jay Band. Been making music in Northern California ever since (Tahoe, Truckee, East Bay, Chico, Nevada City, Livermore). 

I’ve had the pleasure to open for a few well-known acts over the years including Vanilla Fudge, Steppenwolf, Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon, Luther Allison and the Allman Brothers.  But right now, I am so loving the fact that I found my herd with these other Dark Horses.  And we want you to know that we are so very primed to make some great music for your next event!  Stampede ! ! !

Michael Lubin—Drums/Vocals

I started driving my family crazy at a very young age banging out funky grooves on anything that made a cool percussive sound—the kitchen table, glassware, every surface inside the family station wagon, my brother’s head, and more.  At the age of 8, I built my first 10-piece kit using my mom’s best pots, pans and assorted kitchenware using wooden salad spoons for sticks.  

Every day, I’d run home from the school bus stop, put on my oversized 70’s earphones, slap on Police, Who, Stones, Zeppelin, Dead Kennedys and Rush albums and develop my skills playing along with rock’s GOATs.  After about a year of this, my parents came to the conclusion that they should probably get me a drum set—a vintage black Ludwig—and the rest is history.  

Since then, I’ve played in numerous rock, jazz, jam and blues bands in high school and college and post college in NYC and on the West Coast. In the Tahoe area, I was originally recruited to join Sixth Sense and I’ve sat in and gigged with The Beer Gardeners, Steel Sparrows, Wild Ginger and Michael Blakeman and the Sonoma Posse.  In Dark Horse, along with saddling up behind the kit, you’ll see me playing a variety of roles including serving as a contributing vocalist and guitarist.

Mike Baker—Guitar/Bass/Vocals

Lots of musicians have origin stories that trace to a single big bang moment: receiving a first electric guitar on an eighth birthday, say, or seeing Bowie on Top of the Pops. I feel like I’ve more stumbled my way into music through a series of accidents.

When I was a kid, my dad borrowed my record player to listen to one of the shellac 78’s (!) that his jazz band had cut back when he was in high school. I was left with his record collection arrayed next to my turntable, and my kindergartner eye was drawn to the shiniest, most colorful album cover, which turned out to contain Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Psychedelicized at six—it’s hard to recover.

Sometime thereafter, I was playing saxophone in my high school jazz band. One class, after the bell rang but before the teacher showed up, our guitar player stopped running dom13b9 arpeggios and started playing Back in Black so loud that one of the clarinet players vomited. Before that, it had never occurred to me that you could actually learn songs that were on the radio and play them yourself.

Happenstance also led me to writing for a guitar magazine, interviewing bands like Green Day and Radiohead and striking up an acquaintance with one of the guys from Counting Crows, who helped me assemble a band that included members of Primus and Mazzy Star, and players who’d worked with Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt and Van Morrison. We cut a fun album, and I’ve been writing, producing, recording and playing in my own bands and with other people across the country ever since.