Lonnie Schumacher
Acoustic Upright Bass & Electric Bass Guitar
A life-long Fort Pierre, South Dakota resident, Lonnie is bottom-end man of the group. He has been playing bass guitar since he was 14 , after receiving a Montgomery-Wards Airline arch-top acoustic guitar for Christmas from his parents back in 1967. That led to learning a few chords, starting a garage band with school buddies, and evolved into the 4-string bass guitar path of self-expression. Playing in numerous local rock and country bands, he has continued to hone his craft, becoming a proficient upright player and cultivating a love of jazz music over the past few years. “Just as singers get off on that neat three part harmony, when we achieve that instrumental nirvana of musical communication, it makes up for all the practice and hauling gear.” He is self employed with his business “Lonnie’s Home Work” (see LONNIE’S HOMEWORK page) and can fix just about everything and we mean everything. When a friend told him he had taken the whole weekend to fix a couple second story window flashing’s, he replied, “you should have called me, I could do that in my lunch hour!” An electric bass guitar player for eons, Lonnie started playing the upright acoustic bass after a purchase in 2000. With the kind of music the trio does, the upright sounds much more natural and colorful. Pictured with “Anna Nicole” his curvaceous blonde bass, he is also a collector of electric bass guitars and bass amps. Vickie, his ever-so-tolerant wife, has been putting up with him and his stringed instrument collection for more years than normal people should have to.