Dirty Blanket

Dirty Blanket have toured the American Northeast, earning a following on festival circuits and in cities such as New York, DC, Baltimore, Burlington and beyond. As of the past few years they've shared bills with some of the highest profile names in bluegrass including Billy Strings, The Del McCoury Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, Jeff Austin Band, Kitchen Dwellers and more. BAND BIOSSyracuse, NY’s Max Flansburg is a longtime student of all things guitar: from Grateful Dead to Tony Rice, electric guitar work to traditional flat picking and everywhere in between. He’s known across New York State for his driving leads, multi-instrumentalism, songwriting and vocals. He is Dirty Blanket’s lead guitarist and frontman, and is a frequent touring member of the Sam Grisman Project. Joel Fedkiw is NYS singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and solo performer. With musical roots in folk, country, reggae and Americana, he is a Dirty Blanket vocalist and banjo player. Joel has played with a number of other acts across NY from Syracuse to Buffalo, now residing in the Finger Lakes. Dirty Blanket’s lead vocalist & lyricist, Kevin O’Leary is one of NYS’s prolific voices in original songwriting. It was his passion for the traditional sounds of Bill Monroe, Peter Rowan, Hot Rize, and others, that formed the foundation of what would eventually become the band Dirty Blanket. He is the most featured voice on all of the band’s albums, both on lead and harmony, and the writer behind each of the three albums title tracks: “My Getaway,” “Long Time Comin’,” and “Travelin’ Time.” Mandolinist, drummer, vocalist and songwriter Richie Colf is a Finger Lakes/Canandaigua, NY native. Across his years as a musician, he’s played in reggae bands, jam bands, blues bands and string bands. His love for mandolin in later years was a catalyst of the band’s formation as an alternative bluegrass outfit. Ben Haravitch, known across NY by his stage name “Benny Bleu,” is a singer songwriter, upright bassist, clawhammer banjo player and multi-instrumentalist. Benny tours and records with Dirty Blanket on bass, and has toured the U.S. as a clawhammer banjo player and storyteller. He also plays with the Western NY group the Brothers Blue. His clawhammer banjo playing is featured on DirtyBlanket’s “Maple Grove.