Grey Wolf is an acoustic Americana/old-time folk band from the Welsh Marches playing traditional instruments such as banjo, fiddle, guitar, dulcimer, mandolin and double bass alongside fine vocal and harmony singing. The band has headlined several of the prestigious UK's Old Time American Music and Dance Festivals; has appeared on radio, at folk clubs, festivals, and music and literary venues throughout the UK.
Grey Wolf was born in 2010 when Jim Allen and Martin Thomas began playing as a duo blending their shared love of American old time music with British folk music. These two gifted multi instrumentalists were joined by a third some years later – the immensely talented Ben Walsh. The fourth member of the band, widely experienced and versatile bass player Andy Offer joined them in 2021.
The Birmingham News said of Grey Wolf's performance at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in Birmingham "There’s an equality to the group’s spread of sound, but each player is continually soloing-in-motion, rising up in turn, according to where the ears of the audience might alight at any one moment".
Jim Allen
Jim started playing banjo in his early teens and played in several bands around the Midlands. He has always tried to combine humour and entertainment with his excellent musicianship and spent some years with a Jug Band that gloried in the name of ‘The Razzle Dazzle Gatemouth Spasm String Band’ and thrived on a combination of blues, jazz and humour. In addition to forming and leading Grey Wolf Jim is well known for running ‘The Floor’ which for ten years served a loyal and enthusiastic audience with some of the best acoustic music the UK had to offer. His Clawhammer banjo playing style was influenced by the Seeger family and he is now regarded as one of the foremost exponents of this style of banjo playing in the UK. His driving, energetic playing is a major component of Grey Wolf’s sets and his sense of humour is very much part of the band’s persona on stage.
Martin Thomas
Martin is a multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, mandolin and dulcimer. He is a prolific song writer and a talented vocalist and has written much of the band's self penned material. Martin began his performing career in the 1970's South Manchester folk scene before moving to Northamptonshire where he joined the Irish Traditional Band, Shebeen and worked as a solo performer and singer songwriter throughout the East and West Midlands. Upon moving to South Shropshire Martin worked with bands and musicians recording albums with Deborah Rose, Penny Priest, Grey Wolf and Virgil Clenthills. Martin cites his musical influences as musicians writers and performers from the British and American folk revival of the 60’s and 70’s.
Ben Walsh
Ben is a professional musician working with a number of bands nationally and internationally. He is a multi-instrumentalist contributing fiddle, mandolin, guitar and vocals to the Grey Wolf sound. His love of American Roots music started after a trip in his 20s to Tennessee and Kentucky where he was able to see the likes of Doc Watson, Alison Krauss and many others play live on their own soil. This in turn inspired the formation of the duo Deep Elem, who later released some music with Reveal Records. With Grey Wolf Ben became a ‘fiddler’ for the first time and has greatly enjoyed learning more about different folk styles since he joined the group.
Andy Offer
Andy Offer plays upright and electric bass in several different bands. He is from the ‘less is more’ school of bass playing and seeks to complement rather than just accompany his colleagues in Grey Wolf. Originally taught to play orchestral music, he likes to mix some bowed work with his more normal pizzicato bass lines, especially on some of the band’s self-penned songs. Andy is currently developing his jazz playing to improve his technique and to help him explore more innovative melodic opportunities. While firmly wedded to producing authentic ‘Old Time’ lines for the bulk of Grey Wolf sets, he will occasionally smuggle something a little more jazz like past them when they’re not looking…