TALLGRASS EXPRESS

Rancher-songwriter Annie Wilson (on guitar) helps her husband John on their ranch in Chase County where they raised three daughters. Annie is a former teacher and Coordinator of the Flint Hills Map & Education Program.  She helps with the Emma Chase Friday Night Music jams in Cottonwood Falls. Annie enjoys pasture walks where she gets ideas for her songs about the Flint Hills.   She was a founding member of the band in 2004, and has managed and performed in the band since that time.  She is on all the band's six albums.  In 2013 she was named the Flint Hills Balladeer of Kansas.  She has a weekly column “Songs of the Flint Hills” in area newspapers.  See also AWARDS.

Carl Reed (on bass, guitar, and harmonica) lives in Manhattan where he worked with the international programs of the K-State Grain Science Department for nearly thirty years. He comes from a musical family and bought his first guitar when he was serving in the Peace Corps. His songs have been recorded by the bluegrass groups Special Consensus and Continental Divide. Carl joined the band in 2009, contributing his amazing lead and harmony vocals, as well as instrumental, song-writing, and arrangement skills, which have been an essential part of our sound.  He plays on our last four albums - all the Songs of the Flint Hills series. 

Derrick Doty enjoys preserving and sharing traditional music, and gives Kansas Music History programs for the Humanities Kansas Speaker Series. See his website Flint Hills Fiddler.  We are thankful for the extensive knowledge of local music and history he brings to the band, as well as his amazing musicianship.   In NY State, Derrick played with O’Shanigans and the Finnish band Metku. Derrick, his wife Kelsie, and their two young boys live in Manhattan.  Derrick was a founding member of Tallgrass Express, but left the band in 2006 to pursue many goals in life (wife, children, new places). He returned to us in 2019, and having his musical talents back again has been terrific.  He plays on both our first CD, as well as our last two Songs of the Flint Hills albums:  Peace on the Prairie and Out on the Tallgrass Prairie.  See also Derrick Doty - Writing & Music.