Mellencamp Band Members – Another way in which John Mellencamp has stayed true to his Indiana heritage is by surrounding himself with other Hoosier musicians. Of the many long-running members of Mellencamp’s band—past and present—Larry Crane (guitar) goes back the farthest. Five years younger than Mellencamp, Crane, who also grew up in Seymour, started playing with John at age fourteen and stayed with him until 1991. (Their first band that played outside of their hometown was called Trash.) Since leaving Mellencamp, Crane has led his own group, worked as a sideman for various artists, and landed acting jobs (with his first role being opposite Mellencamp in Falling from Grace, 1992). From 1977 to 1999, Mike Wanchic, originally from Lexington, Kentucky, was a guitarist and musical director for the band before moving on to producing albums for various groups, including Cowboy Mouth and the Why Store. Just in recent years, Wanchic has resumed playing with Mellencamp. After attending DePauw and Indiana State University, Wanchic initially met Mellencamp while working at Jack Gilfoy's recording studio in Bloomington. Playing bass on most of the band’s albums from 1983 to 2003 is Indy’s Toby Myers, who was discovered while playing with Roadmaster (see below), one of Indiana’s top rock bands of the mid to late 1970s. Another Indy rocker who joined the band was keyboardist John Cascella (actually a multi-instrumentalist), who played on the albums between 1985 and 1993, including the unmistakable accordion back-drop on Lonesome Jubilee. In the 1960s, Cascella played with Indy’s Chosen Few, which morphed into The Faith Band (see above). Before the release of his last Mellencamp recording, Human Wheels, Cascella died of a heart attack in 1992. Another prominent voice in The Lonesome Jubilee sound was violinist Lisa Germano (see above). One of the longest running members of the band was drummer Kenny Aronoff (see above), who stayed on from 1980 to 1996. The next regular drummer was current member Dane Clark from Anderson. A singer-songwriter in his own right, Clark fronts his own band as lead singer and guitarist. Singing back-up vocals on two albums in the late 1980s (The Lonesome Jubilee and Big Daddy) was Gary native Crystal Taliefero, whom Mellencamp discovered while she was a student at Indiana University. Also a saxophonist and percussionist, Taliefero moved on to perform with Bruce Springsteen, Meatloaf, Elton John, and Faith Hill, among others. Another versatile musician who enjoyed a stint with Mellencamp was Jenn Cristy, who sang back-up vocals and played flute, piano, percussion, organ, and violin on Cuttin’ Heads. Although born and raised in Tennessee, Cristy was an all-American swimmer at Indiana University in her senior year in 2000 and has made Bloomington her home base for her solo career. In the early days, numerous local musicians played with Mellencamp before the core members were established. For example, David Parman, who grew up near Seymour, played guitar, bass, violin, and percussion on Chestnut Street Incident and The Kid Inside (John Cougar’s first two studio albums). Since the late 1980s, Parman has taught guitar at Vincennes University, where for several years he chaired the music department. Additional Hoosier musicians who have contributed to albums include singer Jimmy Ryser (Dance Naked and Mr. Happy Go Lucky, see bio below), singer Heather Headley (Trouble No More, see bio under “Pop”), trumpet player Pharez Whitted (Whenever We Wanted, see bio under “Jazz”) and Harvey Phillips (Mr. Happy Go Lucky). Harvey Phillips is a distinguished Tuba player who taught at Indiana University from 1971 to 1994. Lastly, Mellencamp recorded his first albums at the studio of Hoosier jazz drummer Jack Gilfoy, and, since 1998, he has sought engineering and production help from Indy punk rocker Paul Mahern of the Zero Boys.