The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers Biography

The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers Biography

 The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers are an Americana group formed by the iconoclastic songwriter Mark Olson and his wife Victoria Williams after Olson left his previous band The Jayhawks. The group has also been called Rolling Creekdippers as well as just Creekdippers. For their first three albums the band consisted mostly of Olson, Williams and multi-instrumentalist Mike "Razz" Russell with a little help from such notables as drummers Don Heffington and John Convertino. These were all recorded at the couple's home in Joshua Tree, California and were distributed by mail order with very little touring to support them.

 In 2000 the group picked up touring multi-instrumentalists Joshua Grange and David Wolfenberger as well as long time Creekdipper "Razz" Russell, dropped "Original Harmony Ridge" from the name and began a constant two continent touring schedule in support of three full band recordings; My Own Jo Ellen, December's Child and Mystic Theatre which featured the touring quintet along with Greg Leisz, Danny Frankel, Don Heffington, Jon Birdsong and most notably a reunion duet of Olson and former Jayhawks bandmate Gary Louris on December's Child. Olson and The Creekdippers have toured in several different combinations without Williams, Grange and Wolfenberger but with drummer Ray Woods and Russell. In 2004 Olson and Louris reunited for a tour with Woods and Russell.