Dan has played guitar since he was twelve years old. He played trumpet for both the marching and concert band at Franklin County High School.

He has been involved with Downtown Music since 2004 when he took additional music instruction from Gabe Stalnaker. Gabe assisted him in bringing all of his musical knowledge and progress to the point where he was able to pass on his knowledge to others. He currently teaches and performs with the “Nerves of Steel” band at Downtown Music.

Emily Blankenship-Tucker offers instruction in voice, piano and music theory. She holds a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Union Institute & University, and has more than 12 years of experience teaching students at every level from beginner through collegiate. Many of her former students have gone on to successful careers in performance.
She served as the Music Director at the former Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre until 2012, directed musicals at Franklin County High School from 2003-2008, and has directed numerous other choral and instrumental ensembles. She has also composed the scores for seven full-length original musicals.

Emily has worked as a professional performer since 2001 in plays and musicals here in Franklin County, onstage at Opera Roanoke, and as a touring musician. In addition to the piano, she also plays the guitar, upright bass and accordion.

Emily is currently a member of the nationally touring Americana trio After Jack (www.afterjackband.com) and serves as the director of Franklin County’s Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program. She also provides studio vocals and voice-overs from her home studio.

Emily offers personalized instruction to meet the goals of each student. Her mission as a teacher is to provide each of her students with musical language for self-expression, and to broaden students’ understanding of music as an art form.

Alex teaches guitar, piano, and drums. He has taken music instruction from both Downtown Music and Ferrum College, where he leads the Ferrum College House Band. He has experience with multiple instruments and genres, from bluegrass and gospel to rock n’ roll.

His rock group “The Strangers” is an award winning Roanoke act and he also is a member of “Southern Breeze” who tour the county and surrounding area promoting their recent CD release.

Seph Custer is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Southwest Virginia. For his first 7 years in music, his career revolved around playing lead guitar, banjo, slide and mandolin for numerous rock, americana, blues, punk, alternative, and traditional bands. With a desire to combine his love for a wide range of music, and a shortage of musicians to perform the required parts, Seph embraced the role of front-man for the first time in 2014. Since then, he’s fined tuned his sound over the course of two studio albums and over 600 live shows, combining his diverse music taste with his skill set from several instruments; all delivered with only vocals and a modified guitar. Seph Custer delivers high energy solo performances utilizing techniques from guitar, mandolin and bass to create a soundscape on a single instrument that rivals some 3-piece bands: no looping or pre-recorded tracks required.

Seph has been featured in The Floyd Country Store’s annual tribute concerts, covering Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Carole King, and Paul Simon. In 2015, Seph’s music was so well received at Callaway Brewing Company, they named a small batch German Wheat Ale “Sepheweissen.” Seph Custer & The Papa Tom Band were included in Floydfest’s 2017 “Artists on the Rise” competition. In 2018, he became a member of Brackish Water Jamboree playing mandolin, joined them on tour, and performed alongside them in the “Rockn’ to Lockn” competition. He’s also appeared in Virginia Brew Hub Magazine, Appalachian Jamwich Magazine, The Roanoke Times, Blue Ridge Rocks, City Magazine, Roanoke’s Down By Downtown festival, The Nor-folk Festival, Pink Moon Festival, Blacksburg’s Rock the Blocks and Steppin’ Out Festivals, and WDVX’s Blue Plate Special.

His first solo album, ‘Where You Are’ was released on January 19th, 2016. ‘Where You Are’ consists of 8 tracks, including 3 songs with violinist Laurel Brooke. It has been featured on 101.5 The Valley’s Music Place, The Roanoke Times, and on various blogs online. ‘Where You Are’ was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Windfall Studios by Dave Fason in December of 2015.

Seph’s sophomore album, ‘Beginning to End’ features 12 original songs, touching on many genres; Americana, Funk, Bluegrass, Singer-Songwriter, Folk, Blues, Old-Time, and Rock, all performed with only guitar and vocals. ‘Beginning to End’ was recorded live on November 1st at Windfall Studios – engineered, mixed and mastered by Dave Fason, all on site. It was released worldwide on November 18th, 2017.

As well as being a performer and composer, Seph teaches acoustic & electric guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, bass, violin, slide guitar, lap steel, dobro, and music theory at Downtown Music in Rocky Mount, The Handmade Music School at The Floyd Country Store, and Fret Mill in Downtown Roanoke.

—Booking Inquiries— sephcuster@gmail.com

Chris Wimmer is a dedicated percussion and rhythm teacher and performer. With roots in genres spanning from pop, hip hop, jazz, soul and R&B to blues, country, rock and heavy metal, Chris has 12+ years of music training and experience. He leads the percussion class with a variety of styles and techniques while still holding true to the basics of music comprehension and practice of standard rudiments.

Bio info

Bio info

Bio info

Bio info

Bio info