Gary Gackstatter, Tim Durham and Julie Rosseter have teamed up to form the group known as The Renters. The name of the group comes partly from the name of a song and a CD that the group released entitled "Renters From @%##." (You'll have to ask them just what @%## stands for.) The group is widely known to greater Winfield area residents because most of the group (Gary Gackstatter and Tim Durham) hail from Arkansas City, KS, a community just 12 miles south of Winfield. Gackstatter serves as the Director of Instrumental Music at Cowley County Community College, Director of the Winfield Regional Symphony, and Director of the Arkansas City Community Band.
Their music showcases a tight ensemble, some flashy improvisations, beautiful harmonies and a depth of lyric not often found in music today. Relying on the acoustic instruments of the guitar, mandolin, viola, bass and piano, these three musicians are able to create their own unique world of sound.
Gackstatter and Durham have both been long-time songwriting winners at the Walnut Valley Festival, and have been receiving more and more acclaim with their performances at the Festival, the Kansas Sampler Festival in Inman, KS, numerous folk-venues and a series of concerts in Colorado as well as in and around Atlanta, Georgia. The latter comes from the fact that they have added to their sound, violist Julie Rosseter, a free-lance musician who hails from Atlanta, GA.
And what you get from this group is a concert or set that is full of surprises. Songs about Kansas ancestry, television and problems with renters, combined with heart-felt love songs and introspective, soul-searching songs.
If you've missed Gackstatter and Durham at past song writing competitions at the Festival, now is the time to experience their talent at this year's Walnut Valley Festival. Don't miss Gackstatter, Durham and Rosseter, better known now as The Renters.
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