In Cahoots

In Cahoots combines the talents of five seasoned veterans of the Eastern Nebraska music scene, Hal Cottrell, Max Cooley, Matt Allen, Denny Riegsecker and Angel Kucera.  This band is quickly gaining acclaim for its soulful, hard-driving sound, and is building an enthusiastic audience through appearances on festival stages throughout the Midwest. Their material is a combination of traditional, contemporary, and original Bluegrass music, as well as gospel and older country songs arranged to fit their style.

Hal Cottrell is the catalyst of this group.  Hal is a multi-instrumentalist and writes songs for the group.  He is best known for his hard driving mandolin style, for which he has been awarded SPBGMA Mid-West Mandolin Performer of the year three times.

Max Cooley is highly regarded as both an instrumentalist and singer. Max has been nominated many times for SPBGMA Mid-West Dobro Performer of the year and won the award in 2011. Max is a great fan of Jimmy Martin, and has been said to sound a lot like Jimmy himself.

Matt Allen started playing guitar and mandolin in 1974 and by 1976 was ready to contribute to the formation of a family band. He has played many SPBGMA festivals with several groups in Iowa and Nebraska. Matt writes many songs for the group and his solid rhythm guitar is a key part of the band's driving sound.

Denny Riegsecker is an exciting banjo player, and he credits his banjo style, described as smooth as well as hard driving, to listening to the early recordings of the banjo greats, as well as New Grass music influences. His versatility comes from many years of playing in various bands and different types of music.

Angel Kucera has been performing in the Nebraska area for over 24 years.  She started out in her family band, where she learn to sing lead and harmony vocals.  Angel began entering singing contests at a very early age, and has always been in the top 3 in every contest she entered.  She has played bass and guitar with many country and bluegrass bands throughout Nebraska.

Contact - Hal Cottrell