Honeytown is a fun and upbeat four-piece group of creative musicians based in Kidron, Ohio featuring Tim Shue, Nate Gundy, Kevin Himes, and Toby Hazlett. The band's eclectic musical mix of original compositions, unexpected arrangements and tightly-blended harmonies have endeared them to audiences in both downtown theaters and rural barns. Their varied instrumentation ranging from fiddle to banjo, washboard to bass ukulele, accordion to percussive trash cans takes their audiences by pleasant surprise.

Honeytown has performed their unique blend of unpredictable folk americana, rock and roll and progressive bluegrass for conventions, conferences, art shows, churches, weddings,

benefits, barbecues, house concerts, coffeehouses, and as the showcased musical guests for several performances of Carol Barnett’s The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass. They play regularly at Lehman's in Kidron and have been the house band for the bi-annual “Frohliche Dorf Show”, also in Kidron. They have performed twice at the Kent State Folk Festival's 'Round Town, the Ohio and Pennsylvania Mennonite Relief Sales, and Lakeside Chautauqua in Lakeside, Ohio and the Holmes County Ohio Fair. Performing four times at the Sing Me High Festival in the beautiful Shenendoah valley of Harrisonburg, Virginia has also been a highlight.

 

 

Kevin Himes joined Honeytown in May of 2008 as the group's accordionist and percussionist. An avid Star Wars nerd and Anabaptist studies enthusiast, Kevin is just the calm, complacent sort the guys needed to bring sanity and stability to an otherwise hyperactive folk band (editor's note: this is a lie). Kevin brings his gift of composition to the group as well as his high-energy drumming. After all, his greatest drumming influence is Animal from The Muppet Show. Kevin is the pastor of Salem Mennonite Church of Kidron and a husband to Jen and father of four children.

Nate Gundy grew up in a music-loving family in Bluffton, Ohio, and moved to Wayne County in 2007 after a 7-year stint in Ontario, Canada. While in Canada, he attempted to enlighten himself through studies in Music and English education, coming away with a couple of bachelors degrees, numerous choral experiences, and many guitar lessons both given and received. He now spends his working days as an English and band instructor at Central Christian School in Kidron. In his spare time he loves auto mechanics, backpacking, gardening and growing garlic and boys. Honeytown has fulfilled his lifetime dream of being part of a band of merry men to rival that of the late Stan Rogers. Nate lives in Orrville, with wife Jessica, and sons Caleb, Owen and Jacob.

Tim Shue originally comes from Kansas, but has found his roots in Kidron as a choral music teacher at Central Christian School. He is a lover of nature, (specifically birds) and for the last decade has pursued the craft of spoon carving. Tim has long dreamed of being in a band where instrumentalists could play different styles and could sing harmonies instantly! Although the online community mostly knows his famous son, Smokey, (a turkey), he is married to Jennifer. Together they have three daughters: Harper, Sommer and Veena.

Toby Hazlett is the lone Holmes County Honeytown representative, having moved to the area in 2000 where he designed and built a home near Millersburg in which to raise five brave and talented children along with his life partner, Denice. Toby has performed in a wide variety of venues as guitarist and bassist, from solo to full orchestra, from the time he was 14. He enjoys filling the role of technical and sound advisor for the group and has produced the Honeytown albums, Nobody's Fault but Mine and Edgar Allan Crow and Good Enough in his home studio, Sprouted Acorn Studios in Charm. He teaches guitar and bass at Larry's Music Center in Millersburg and at Central Christian School in Kidron. 

 

 

Photographer: Denice Rovira Hazlett of Sprouted Acorn Photography

Venue: (Top) Sonnenberg Village; Kidron, Ohio

(Middle) Holmes County Fair, Millersburg, Ohio

(Bottom) outside Blackbird Records, Wooster, Ohio