OF BROTHERHOOD, MUSIC AND FINE SPIRITS

THE WHISKEY TREATY ROADSHOW IS A COLLABORATIVE Band THAT BRINGS TOGETHER five MASSACHUSETTS SINGER-SONGWRITERS IN THE VEIN OF AMERICANA, ROCK AND ROOTS-FOLK MUSIC.

The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow is made up of Massachusetts songwriters Tory Hanna, Billy Keane, Chris Merenda, Greg Daniel Smith and David Tanklefsky. For seven and a half years, the band has thrilled regional and national audiences with its electric live shows, earning them slots at acclaimed festivals including Green River Fest, Fresh Grass, The Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival, The Rock Boat, Strange Creek and more.

In January 2020, the band released its debut studio album, Band Together, featuring Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes) on drums and Pat Sansone (Wilco) on bass. The album was produced by acclaimed Berkshires musician/producer Johnny Irion. The album earned acclaim in Rolling Stone, No Depression, and American Songwriter.

Tory Hanna is a performer whose musical soul and character pours out whenever he stands in front of a microphone. Influenced largely by American singer-songwriters and roots rockers such as Ben Harper, James Taylor, and Bradley Nowell, Tory leans on modern electro-indie song-writing such as the Death Cab for Cutie and MGMT for lyric-driven and articulated melodic stylings. His first EP released in 2012, entitled Pondside, captured much of his electro-centric singer-songwriter stylings. Tory's latest work, Learning to Share, speaks to a more stripped down live Americana-Folk tradition in an ever-growing Western Massachusetts music scene, and the core of what The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow embodies. Learning to Share is set to release Spring 2016, with support from New York City-based Indie label, Electric Giant, and Producer Jeff Malinowski.

To call Billy Keane a throwback would be redundant. Keane is a singer-songwriter who lives in Pittsfield, MA and was discovered by the Berkshires First Family of Music, Kim and James Taylor. Besides James, he counts Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan among his influences. Like his predecessors, Keane sings about things that are important to people: Freedom, love, and peace as well as other key issues in our time. Billy’s heart may be in the sixties, but his music is pure 21st Century. With his blend of folk and contemporary blues, Keane has built a solid following by playing clubs and bars throughout the Northeast and Mid Atlantic states. He has released two projects to date, an EP called Pine Street Sessions and an album with his band Billy Keane and the Misdemeanor Outlaws. His songs will touch your heart and make you think all at the same time. Make it a point to touch base with your past while you look into the future, listening to Billy Keane.

David Tanklefsky is a musician, journalist, radio broadcaster and sports play by play man. He has been making records and playing shows since he was 16 years old in Boston-born folk/rock/jazz kids Grimis. Tanklefsky released a solo EP "The Sun and the Shadows" in 2011 and a full length solo record "Be Brave" in 2014. He has played guitar in numerous projects including Emil & Friends, Craig Martinson and the Heartbeats and Hayley Sabella and shared stages with bands including Zammuto, The Slip, Piebald and Thao With the Get Down Stay Down. He lives in Cambridge, Mass.

Greg Smith spent his youth honing his musical skills on the family farm in the hills of Charlemont, Massachusetts before joining his first band at age 12. He played a variety of instruments before settling on the guitar in high school and had been a member of nearly a dozen bands before relocating to Brooklyn, NY in the mid-2000s.  There he formed his dream band Greg Smith & The Broken English, which made NYC venues such as Rockwood Music Hall and the Bowery Electric its home for several years. The band has toured the east coast, played at SXSW, and recorded several albums together, the most recent being “Ramblin’ Road” in 2014. The album chases the spirit of the 70s country and classic rock anthems Smith cut his teeth on in roadhouse bars coming up as a young player – with folk and pop flourishes.  Smith’s songwriting has been recognized several times by the Independent Music Awards earning nominations in the Best Story Song, Best Alt. Country Song, and Best Alt. Country Album categories.  In 2015, Smith and his wife moved from Brooklyn back to the hills of northwestern Massachusetts where he is now spreading his talents among several groups across the state, including The Maverick Street Band (Fitchburg, MA), Lakeside Drive (Franklin County, MA), and The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow, as well as his NY-based band “The Broken English” who are in the process of writing and recording their fourth release.

Chris Merenda is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and lead singer/performer who brings his unique style of talent to every musical endeavor he gets involved in. His current music has been influenced by a long resume of accomplishments.

Merenda has been performing and re-inventing his sound for the past two and a half decades. Whether it was Ska/Reggae, Punk and Rock in the nineties, or Folk, Americana, Blues and Bluegrass in more recent years, Merenda is a master of style. His recent releases are helping define music in the 21st century. Merenda utilizes all these styles in his arsenal of spine-tingling, melodically infectious songs, not to mention a voice that can be mistaken for no other.

Merenda is currently a resident and musical staple of the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. He decided to move there upon meeting his wife while on tour with Arlo Guthrie for Guthrie's 40th anniversary of Alice's Restaurant tour in 2005. Merenda was Arlo's drummer on this six-month tour of theaters and musical festivals all across America, with a grand finale culminated at Carnegie Hall on Thanksgiving.

Simultaneously to this tour, Merenda was finishing up his second solo release Hello Freedom, a follow-up from his 2003 solo debut The Regimen. Both albums were produced by Duncan Watt and received endless praise across the globe for their wit and relatable human vibes. Between 2001 and 2008, Merenda was touring nationally and internationally with The Mammals, a family band founded by Mike and Ruth Merenda and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger (grandson of the late great Pete Seeger).