About Brittany Bay - Brittany Bay was created in 1990, with original members Tim and Hillary Schaiper and guitarist Dan Wolking. In 1991, Rick Fannin of Fannigan's Isle joined the group playing bodrhan and bozouki. The group played together until 1993. That is when Tim got together with friends David Marcus, Rachel Hall and Fred Stoll to form the group "Federal Deficit". The Group seperated when Rachel left the area for college, yet Tim and Fred wanted to continue playing for contra dances. That's when Tim contacted friend Dan Wolking and was later joined by bassist Guy Byars to reestablish the present version "Brittany Bay".

Brittany Bay has played many area venues such as Tall Stacks, May Fest, Eden Song, and Krohn Conservatory's Hothouse concerts. Other venues includes many of the areas contra dance festivals such as the Gypsy Moon Ball an the Pigtown Fling along with monthly dances in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Brittany Bay namesake derives from the region at the northern tip of France where Tim lost his uncle on August 8th, 1944 during the invasion of Normandy as a soldier in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Fred Stoll- Fiddle - While growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Fred studied classical violin. At the same time, he taught himself guitar and played rock and roll. After high school, he spent time playing jazz on both violin and guitar. In 1982, Fred discovered the world of traditional fiddle music, and has been hooked ever since. He started out with Appalachian old time music, and won first place in the Rustic Style fiddle competition at the 1985 Florida State Fiddlers' Convention. Fred played with the Tampa, Florida based Celtic music band "Wind That Shakes the Barley" from 1984 to 1986. From 1986 to 1991 Fred lived in southwest Virginia where he played for square dances and contra dances, and enjoyed the thriving old time music community.

Fred supports himself as a research engineer, but loves playing fiddle for dances at every opportunity. He enjoys playing a large variety of traditional fiddle styles, including French Canadian, Celtic, Old Time, Scandinavian, New England, French, and others. "I really enjoy playing for dances. Having two melody instruments in Brittany Bay, I get a chance to improvise and harmonize. I get inspired by the dance energy, and I try to give it back by playing with 100% of my energy. I'm usually exhausted by the end of a dance!" Fred splits his off-work free time between music, parenting his two boys, and enjoying numerous outdoor activities.

Pam Carson Stoll- Fiddle -  Formerly Pam Carson of St. Louis, has been joining Brittany Bay on stage part time since 2001. Pam's interest in the violin started with classical music, and led her on to play with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra among other classical musical ensembles. Pam got interested in dance music after discovering contradancing in 1991, and before long she was playing for English country dancing in St. Louis. In 1995 while attending the Kimswick dance festival, Pam teamed up with fiddler Martha Edwards (also a converted classical violinist) and guitarist (and well-known caller) David Kirchner to form the popular dance band Stringdancer.The group still manages to play occasional gigs despite a large geographical dispersion of the members. In addition to driving contradance melodies, Pam is well known for her captivating performance of waltzs, and Pam has been active in organizing evenings of waltzs and other couple dances in Cincinnati. The twin fiddling of Pam and (her husband) Fred makes for driving melodies and passionate harmonies that dancers love.

Tim Schaiper - Dulcimer - Tim is a self taught musician and plays an assortment of instruments including hammered dulcimer, Irish tin whistles, mandolins, bodrhan, concertina and bagpipes. His passion for Celtic music dates back to his early childhood. Growing up as a son of an English born mother with the music of the Beatles and listening to his mother's song of her homeland influenced Tim's love of the music. It was then, in 1986, when Tim heard the playing of the New Vinson County's Froghoppers, and the hammered dulcimer playing of Charlie Lewis did he find the need to start playing music. The sound of the dulcimer was something magical. It took about two years for him to locate a hammered dulcimer kit and just two days to put it together. Shortly after, he met the hammered dulcimer player Sara Johnson and the group Ten Strike. Sara was my influence on the hammered dulcimer. Attending many area dulcimer workshops and later sitting on stage at Monday night contra dances behind Sara's group "Ten Strike" gave Tim the inspiration to learn the hammered dulcimer and create a contra dance band .

When not playing music with friends, Tim and his wife Carol enjoys gardening, playing cards and bird watching.

Dan Wolking- Guitar - Dan grew up in a family of musicians, the son of Stan and Joan who are both products of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He started trombone in the 4th grade and pursued the study of that instrument through a bachelor's degree of music from Miami University in 1983. Along about the time he was 16, Dan's youngest sister Becky changed the whole course of his musical development by introducing him to the acoustic guitar. Shortly after that, his parents rewarded his new found guitar infatuation with the gift of a 12 string Epiphone. Dan's real work with acoustic guitar began with the 12 string and the power of that instrument has defined much of his style. Although he continued to work in the classical study of trombone and voice, it became obvious that guitar was to become the center of his musical focus. Throughout the 20+ years he has spent exploring the guitar, he has tried to investigate as many facets of the instrument as possible, including folk, jazz, and classical, and the diverse experiences offered by musical theater.

It was during a musical theater production that Dan met fiddle player Hillary Gregg (Wagner) and dulcimer player Tim Schaiper, who introduced him to Celtic music and with them, the original "Brittany Bay" was formed. "They needed someone to provide a rhythm foundation for their music... something I think the 12-string and it's power is particularly well suited for. They asked me if I could sit in for a gig and I've been playing this music ever since." Although the original members of Brittany Bay have gone their separate ways, Dan continues to play music with both of them whenever possible. In recent years he has branched out into electric bass work and experimentation with 6-string banjo. Major influences would be James Taylor, George Benson, Michael Hedges, Bela Fleck, and Cal Collins. To support his musical habit, Dan is a database programmer.

Guy Byars - Bass - Guy's introduction to music started in the 5th grade with the trumpet. He switched to the baritone horn a year later which he played throughout High School. In 1993 he started playing the string bass in the bluegrass style at the Famous Old Time Music Company. In search of more diverse music, he became a regular at Hap's Irish pub's Wed. night Celtic jam session. One of the Celtic musicians there introduced him to Fred Stoll and he was quickly recruited to play Bass with Brittany Bay. After playing the bass for a few years he longed for a more melodious (and portable!) instrument, so he tried the English Concertina. He quickly outgrew his student concertina and now plays a mint condition 1925 Wheatstone metal ended concertina.

In 1997 he married an Armenian pianist and in 1998 was blessed with a beautiful daughter. He is also the self appointed Brittany Bay webmaster and flys gliders as often as possible.